New Tallest
by Dark Destiny
Summary: wow this one took me longer then normal..
1. Pretallest

Hello this is the final chapter in my 3 part saga (hint New wounds New beginnings)  
You should read them if you want to know what's happened but you don't have too. I  
know I have done that before (^*^).... This contains allot of my theories on why the tallest  
are so different then normal Invaders. Note: Tallest blue was already taken by someone,  
so I shall name my, soon to be tallest cheleste or light blue in Italian... (P. S I have kinda  
gotten a bit of a road block for one ordinary day and will finish it as soon as I get a good  
idea..)  
  
The Pretallest  
  
Purple sighed as he viewed himself in a full length mirror. He was preparing for  
the choosing of the Pretallest. He hated the ceremony. Every other year the empire's best  
geneticists would trot out their creations for approval. So far Red and himself had found  
none worthy. None of them matched his high intellectual standards or Red's high combat  
Evaluations, but this time they would have to choose. He and Red knew that they could  
not live indefinitely. Not even with Irken's highly advanced technology, and every tallest  
was supposed to have a Pretallest trained just in case. In case of assassination. Or  
rebellion.  
So this time they would have to pick the best of their genetic pool, but that did not mean  
Purple had to like it.   
The common people of the empire, the invaders were created from a common  
DNA pool. They were created to be strong, and cunning. The standard Invader was about  
half a Tallest's size, intelligent, ambitious, and had round red eyes. There were slight  
variations, like size gender and personality, but all in all they were similar. There were the  
occasional glitches. (Like Zim.) If the glitches were good the DNA patterns were  
incorporated into the genetic pool. If they were bad.. Well they gave the unlucky invaders  
a chance to prove themselves. If they messed up they were banished. (Like Zim) The  
invader's race of Irkens had not evolved for centuries. Evolution was dead to this race of  
genetic perfection.  
The tallest however had a different genetic pool. They were made to be thinner  
and taller than all there race with square eyes that varied color with each. They also  
possessed a cunning and intelligence not know to the Invaders. The choosing of the   
pretallest was a very old, and important ceremony. It was about the genetic supremacy and  
power of those who were made to be tallest. At no time in Irken history had an invader  
grown to much more then half a Tallest's height. They had ways of making things happen   
to those who appeared to come too close.   
In the Pretallest ceremony, the currant tallest that would chose a hair to the  
empire. The tallest always looked for different things in their choice. The tallest who had  
chosen Purple and Red had wanted something very different. Purple remembered the day  
he and Red had been chosen. They had stood in an arena of thousands of Irkens. (Think a  
futuristic Roman coliseum) All the other possibilities had stood before their creators in  
two rows facing each other in order of height. The 12 choices had each gone threw  
rigorous tests and training. The test were of strength, cunning, skill, and control.   
The 12 were the only ones left alive of hundreds. He and Red had been the tallest of   
their group, so they stood directly across from each other. The others were all the same  
height and inches shorter than himself and Red. They were actually the tallest of any  
group of choices to pass all the tests.  
The final test was that of the Pretallest choice. The area of their greatest  
strength. Purple had been carefully going over his memorized translation of an ancient  
Irken war ballad. If he was chosen he would demonstrate his knowledge as his skill. Red  
had been thinking about his presentation of the art of the ancient Irken battle staff. His  
battle tactics and warrior skills would be shown.  
Then the almighty tallest Rosso had entered (OK sue me I can't think of anything  
better.) His square dark red eyes had glittered oddly in the bright lights, as he took in the  
candidates. His eyes landed on Red and Purple and stayed there. The tallest was to ask the  
ones he preferred to demonstrate their skills. He would do this with a nod. If he was truly  
impressed with just their looks, he would touch the shoulder. Then out of those he would  
chose the one he deemed worthy. Rosso quickly passed the 10 others who stood ridged  
showing no emotion, as they were trained to. Their creators however gave each other  
despairing looks. Rosso paused between Red and purple and touched there shoulders  
lightly with one finger. He then moved to his viewing platform in the center of the large  
stadium, and ascended above the crowds. Red and purple were led to side rooms. Their  
geneticists were taken away to be given their own hidden rewards. The one's who had not  
been chosen left with their creators the way they entered. The ones who were not chosen  
by the tallest would be made into generals and political leaders. After all they were  
superior than the common invader.   
Purple who had not felt any emotion prior had let a surge of hope and joy flood  
through him, as he was striped of the common invader's uniform and presented with a  
pre Tallest's robe. It was allot alike the tallest, but he would walk not float. His old  
invader's back pack was replaced with a longer larger one, and his left hand had a  
simple invaders glove. The other had a Tallest's gauntlet. He felt odd, only having the use  
of two fingers on his right hand, but he knew it was an honor and wore it as such. After  
he  
was done he and red were taken out to separate floating platforms, where they stood  
evaluating each. No emotions were allowed on their faces. Then they each showed the  
tallest their skills. Red demonstrated his poise and precession with the battle staff. It was   
long, thin, and pole like. A wooden weapon carved with the old extinct beasts of their  
home world Irk. The ends curved in opposite directions in sharp metallic blades. To use  
the weapon would require great care, for if you swung without it, you would cut your  
self in half. Red displayed just such care and skill in a performance that was difficult even  
for masters of the weapon.   
Then Purple showed his skill. The ancient book of Irken laws was telaported into  
the space before him. The book was one of the few remaining to the Irken empire, of their  
own creation and language. He never touched the pages for fear of spoiling it but with  
their advanced technology it was no problem. He had carefully read aloud the ancient  
tongue making each syllable as perfect as the original speakers. Only the trained ear of a  
tallest could know for certain, and the language was strange, guttural, and harsh to the  
invaders ear. The crowd booed as loudly at Purples demonstration, as they had cheered  
for  
Red when he was done. Purple felt he spirits crash, but still wore the perfect mask of  
emotionlessness.   
finally the crowed grew silent waiting for their leader obvious choice. Rosso stood  
up from his thrown high above the others and with a dramatic wave of silence he spoke in  
the royal plural that was used in ceremonies as ancient as these. We the almighty tallest  
have made our decision. We choose as our new Pretallest, and your future leader. Red.  
The crowd roared there approval, and Purple felt his spark of hope crash and burn. Then  
silence swept the coliseum, with one word. And. And purple. The coliseum filled with a  
rush of whispering, and shouting. There was mass confusion, as Red and Purple where  
led out behind the tallest. Purple was numb with shock, his skin grew shades lighter.  
Later the Tallest had told Red and Purple why he had made the choice of two  
tallest, going agents the custom of one. He had spoke to them in a room on Irk. It was  
only accessible to the tallest, and when they choose the pre tallest. The room was lit by  
fires, displaying the ancient Irken script on older stone walls. In the center of the marble  
floor was a round fountain. A single Irken warrior stood holding a planet up, as water  
cascade down from it. Behind the fountain was a large marble chair on a platform, and  
below it were two smaller benches. He had led them to it sat, the mentioned for them to  
sit. Then he told them one of the many myths of their home planet. It was about why only  
the tallest was fit to rule. How at one point before they had developed any technology at  
all, and the people were ruled by chaos. Then a ruler stepped out from one of the stronger,  
wilder peoples. He had loomed over all others, and united his people to conquer their  
world. He had started small. He gained power among the smaller countries. He destroyed  
the larger countries from with in, by infiltration. Then he gathered his armies and crushed  
his opponents. When he was done on irk, he turned to stars and saw among them a chance  
for further conquest and battle glory. The Irken Race did not gain star travel tell many  
generations and years later, but a tallest had always ruled them all. When the race finally  
gained the ability to reach other planets, they like their invader ancestors, Ruled what they  
saw. Only now generations past could in a society without the messy original form of  
reproduction could a tallest feel truly alone and without companionship to support him.  
Rosso had turned to them and said   
"Being tallest has always had it's advantages. The glory of flight. the rush of  
battle. The science of knowledge, but it also bares the weight of immense responsibility.  
For we, the Tallest are like that statue. We must bare the would alone, but for you the new  
Tallest's, you will not have that responsibility to shoulder alone. You are equally tall and  
each have equal skills, even if they are in different areas. You will rule not only our small  
galaxy, but many others as well. You will both be great if you listen and learn from each  
other." Rosso's words Had rung truer than Purple had thought they could. He and Red  
had eventually Stopped their petty bickering, and became friends. Then grew to be like  
brothers. Now many, many years later, they had conqueror every thing they wanted, and  
for filled what old Rosso had said. Purple shook himself away from his melancholy  
memories to the unpleasant business that waited him and Red. The choice of the  
Pretallest, and unlike himself and Red, no one truly inspiring had shown themselves to  
have what it takes to be tallest.   
  
So do ya like it? review if you want I shall update really soon! 


	2. Tallest test

Hello all the people who are not reading this! I don't care I will write it anyway! So there!   
I write this in a fit of despair, because one of my best friends has lowered my opinion of   
him. He wants to nuke Afghanistan. Obliterate every soul that lives there. So if this is a   
tad bitter. oh well.. not like anyone is reading it anyway.   
  
Cheleste   
  
She jumped high over the row of spikes, twisting to avoid the blades that fell from   
above, then rolled under the laser bars. She chanted in her mind a battle fraze that   
numbed pain and concentrated ever mussel to do her bidding. If she made one wrong   
move she would die. Or worse. She spun her only weapon a metal blade, and slashed in   
half an oncoming enemy. It was a slaughtering rat person, it snarled lashing out with it's   
claws trying to take her with it. She narrowly jumped over and continued running. She   
ran, because if she stopped it would catch up with her, but she could not think of that   
now. She had to stayed focused on the course ahead. She still had miles to go and   
darkness was falling. When that happened they would close the doors. She would be   
trapped in the dark on the most dangerous planet in the Irken empire. So she leaped over   
the pit of scything tangle vines narrowly missing the sentient blood thirsty plant's   
reaching vines. Behind her she heard the scream of one of her kind, who were not as   
fortunate. She ran on. Dogging laser fire, from droids that were ever present. She finally   
cleared the edge of the dead dessert. It was crude but fit the wastelands where most of her   
comrades had died. She crossed the line and was instantly in the jungle of no return. She   
was the first and most likely last of her drop ship to make it to this first vital check point.   
A low tech blaster was warped in front of her and she grabbed it as she ran. She could not   
remember much of her trial. Her brain would not register much, if any of the horrors she   
had passed. Her best friend and comrade Verdai falling in the first minute to the   
bandersnach. The colors of the blurring ground. Her lungs burned and her vision blurred   
but she ran. She could not stop. If she failed, if she fell she would not get up. She cut   
threw the vegetation saving her blaster for the more dangerous things to come. She   
narrowly avoided the quick sand and their inhabitants sand worms. Then she reached a   
clearing. Not stopping she ran on. Then she felt the ground shake.   
  
"Mm hmm" The Irken scientist tapped an observation screen. "looks like 1405   
has met up with the gurod" The scientist commented disinterestedly. He knew none who   
met the gurod lived.   
  
"Too bad it was an excellent specimen too." Another scientist commented. As   
they turned to watch the others all running dying and conquering on hundreds of screens.   
Most going black to indicate death. They failed to see the Irken child who did not know   
none survived the gurod. On the small floating screen she propelled her self into the   
canopy grabbing vines and firing into the maw of the giant mud creature. She swung her   
bare feet just out of its range. Then she used the vines just like a simian would swinging   
as fast as she would run, dogging by centimeters the death that waited her, if her bare   
fingers slipped.   
  
"What?" the scientist turned back to the screen. "it looks like 1405 has   
more persistence than we thought"   
  
Numbly she moved on, through the canopy of the dark and dense jungle, blade in   
her mouth. She bit the steel tightly. She tasted the copper flavor of her own blood but   
knew she could not lose even one of her advantages. She summer salted threw the air   
clearing a gap in the vines. she grabbed a thick and thorny plant and dropped into a patch   
of bramble. She clawed through the natural barb wire, and reached the ground. She had   
left that monster behind but knew far worse awaited her. She continued to crawl as fast as   
she could. Her sleeveless legless body suit not protecting her from any of the sharp   
thorns.   
  
Ahalf hour passed and finally she reached the edge of the jungle, and saw the city in the   
far distance. As she passed the line her weapons disappeared and she was telaported into   
a mech. suit.   
It was humanoid in shape. In seconds she had the controls down. She started of   
into the miles of clear barren dirt, that separated her from her destination. She pressed a   
sequence, and the mech. transformed into it's lightest and fastest form. A powerful Cagen   
cat creature of Irks past. She lay on her stomach flat, in the now vertical cockpit and   
pushed the joystick to the max.   
  
The ground blurred under her and, she jumped the edgy of a canyon that fell miles below,   
and in front of her. She narrowly caught the edge of the other side with the   
front paws of her mech. She quickly pulled her self up with the powerful mechanical hind   
legs. She ran on, seeing the red sun beginning to hang low in the sky. Soon mech.   
creatures in the form of vulture like bird descended and she pushed the Cagen into a flip.   
Blasters blazing she took one out, and lunging again she got a second with her front   
claws. The last she took out with the long whip like metallic tail of the mech. All in one   
continues forward motion. She leapt over many more canyon edges, and took down   
Mech's of all sizes and shapes. On her backwards radar she watched unfeeling as more   
of her comrades fell to the traps of the testers. Finally she reached the border and the solid   
pavement was under her Mech's feet. As she crossed the line the Mech disappeared from   
under her, and She tumbled into the wall. Turning it into a flip she landed on her feet and   
dove into the narrow opening to safety. Clearing it just as 5 other Irkens cleared their   
Mech's and dove into separate holes. Just then the last rays of sunset fell and two other   
Irkens were trapped outside left alone. Their mental walls breaking down. They pounded   
and screamed futilely on the closed doors of their last chance.


	3. The Maze

Yea I got a review! *Jumps up and down a few times* I think you wrote your review just   
fine, and I am glad you like it Jen and Cicero! Sorry this took awhile.   
  
Battle of intelligence.   
  
1405, Or Cheleste as her creator had called her, stood in the healing tube. She   
didn't move as it started to fill up with liquid. She felt it slowly close over the top of her   
head then let her self float in the breathable goo. Several scientists hovered around her,   
and the 5 other survivor's tubes They held up different access pads and checked her pulse   
blood pressure, breathing rate, and other basic health checks. Cheleste had already   
slowed her hart rate, and breathing rate as she was trained, as well as mentally calming   
herself. The goo was numbing and eased some of her pains. It varied hot and cold on her   
different aching mussels, as it healed any strains, and cuts. One of the scientists walked   
over to her tube and tapped his pad. He observed 1405's high level of a toxin from a   
poisons jungle thorn. He tapped in a code and a small vial of clear liquid slid out. He   
inserted it into the base of her chamber, and watched as it gave satisfactory results. The   
last checks done the scientists exited the lab. As the last one walked out, the goo drained   
back out the bottom of the tubes. The glass slid up, and the Irkens stepped out, and into a   
straight military line. Heads up, shoulders back, chest out, and knees straight. The waited.   
Soon the lab door opened and a mechanical voice said "file through."   
In a strait line the walked out, and into a small circular room. In the center were   
five round indents in the floor. The same dead mechanical voice ordered "Step into slot.   
The silently obeyed their orders. Then the circles, that were just wide enough for a half a   
foot of room. descended into the maze. As They descended The Irkens' body suits were   
replaced with Invader uniforms. When the platform stopped, Cheleste knew instantly what   
she was expected to do. She was in a three walled square. She Spoke out loud in Ancient   
Irken.   
"Wvael" An invisible wall shimmered and fell. It was made of beams that would have   
killed her if she had walked through. She confidently stepped out. She knew that this test   
was not timed, its was based on intelligence and cunning. It was also a verbal exam.   
When she had been "born" She had complete knowledge of both Ancient and basic Irken,   
designed in her brain. She had to be simply reminded of it by her creator. Now she had   
every word at her command. When she thought she thought in a mix of both languages.   
  
"Rae rreiv-el" She spoke with complete confidence. Instantly the path to the right of her   
dropped its illusion of a plain straight hall and revealed a wide pit with no apparent   
bottom. she turned and spoke "Lae rreiv-el" The path to the left of her dropped it's   
shroud, and a dead end met her. Facing forward she spoke. "Centrae rreiv-el." The center   
path cleared and she stepped forward, and calmly walked until she was about a foot from   
the next T shaped split. Knowing she had to prove she was creative, she did a fast   
downward chop with her hand. Intently darts flew in a straight line where her hand had   
been milliseconds before. She deftly grabbed one with her other hand as it whizzed by. She   
threw it onto the floor. The fell threw and disappeared. Then the floor itself flickered and   
disagreed revealing a platform about 3 feet away from either side. It was only about a   
foot long and wide. It was rounded, and set to fall 3 seconds after it was touched.   
Cheleste closed her eyes and let her hyper sensitive antennae tell her what her eyes could   
not. They could feel variations in temperature as well as wind currants. They also let her   
"see" What could be hid from her eyes. She "Saw" that there was a foot of clear space   
above the line of dart launchers. It was at the top of the 5 foot line and touched the   
ceiling. The right path was clear normal hallway the left a continuation of the spikes.   
She, with her eyes still closed stepped a few feet back and flipped up and over the line,   
landed both feet on the shaky platform then leaped the 5 feet to safety. In front of her was a   
display. It had 10 different weapons. A blaster for those who valued raw power and aim.   
A sword for those with short close range fighting skill. A battel staff for long reaching   
attacks. A pair of throwing knives, A axe, a whip, a pack of small explosives, a cutting   
laser, and shuriken (Think bladed boomerang.) Depending on her two choices the maze   
would change to challenge the her skill. Deciding to rely on her long range and speed attacks   
she choose the wip and the shuriken. she knew from experience she would have 5 last   
tests to pass. They would not be as easy as her past ones. "verdkir" she spoke and the   
other weapons disappeared. The wall that had blocked her path slid down into the floor. She   
spoke again rreiv-el Trest. the illusion dispelled a narrow room with no floor was   
revealed. Two poles hung down to about a foot from her head, and ten feet from her   
each other, and the next test. They had square blocks at the end and niches all the way up   
to their tops. Cheleste hooked the shuriken to her side and uncoiled the whip. She lashed   
out with it and it wraped it's self around the end of the pole. Chelest took a deep breath   
and began her silent mental control chants. She would have to swing to the center get the   
whip to unravel at the last second the do the same for the second. She gapped the end with   
both hands then swung. She dipped into the dark unlit pit than at the height of her arcing   
swing she snapped the whip getting it to uncoil. Then as she fell she lashed it out at the   
next pole. It seemed as she was almost to far gone, but it rapped around second's before   
she would have been too far to reach. She swung legs together and landed lightly on the   
other side. She pulled snapped it again. Then coiled and hung it on her other side. She   
stepped forward and said again "rreiv-el Trest "The next room opened. It also had no floor   
and she thought to her self "what's with these guys and bottomless pits?" But she did not   
let her thoughts show on her face. about 10 feet away was a target. It was small and   
painted as a bullseye. It floated in mid air. She pulled out the curving blade of her   
shuriken. compensation for the narrow ness she threw it downwards with care full aim. It   
disappeared for a few seconds then shot up and through the bullseye. She caught it neatly,   
and watched as platforms appeared across the pit. She hoped them and safely landed on the   
other side. She then stepped forward.   
She was shocked when suddenly all she could see was white she brought her hand   
an inch from her face and could not see it. This time she would really have to rely on her   
antennae. It was no problem for her because she had been trained for this. She closed her   
eyes and focused. The Image she "saw" was slightly twisted and had very little color. The   
floor was covered with a layer of laser an inch wide. About 12 feet above a pole descended   
from the ceiling. Then there were three targets in a row. The last was a row of spikes and   
a dart bar. Bracing her self she readied shuriken and whip. Then she lashed out and   
swung. At the end of her first swing she threw the shuriken. It whizzed through the targets   
and all three were cleared. The platforms appeared. She snapped the whip a landed. She   
"felt" the platform under her begin to flicker. She jumped off just as it flickered out She   
landed on the next one and it too began to flicker but she leapt off just in time. She landed   
on the last platform but not cleanly. As she made the last jump she realized to late   
that she could not clear both the spikes and the darts. She sailed over the spikes but then   
her legs and antennae brushed the bar when she tried to flip over it. She felt the burning as   
the darts ripped gashes in her right leg and scarped her right antennae. She rolled onto the   
floor in an awkward manner her grace temporarily shattered. She opened her eyes seeing the   
clear hall ahead and without a sound surveyed the damage. Her antennae throbbed and she   
reached up and felt blood. She looked at her leg and viewed the 5 deep gashes on her leg.   
Not letting her pain show on her face for fear that they would take even more point off,   
she silently began to curse herself in Irken. "I should have never been to bold! I knew they   
would throw this in!" she slowly removed her boots and removed her shuriken she   
slowly cut her socks in to four strips and cut her pant legs off. She tried the strips of sock   
s on her wounds and tied her pant legs around that for more support and pressure. Without any of the nanobugs or vaccination normal Irkens had she would have to heal the   
normal way. Slowly. She knew this meant she would die but instead of committing the   
suicidal rites she placed her boots back on and stood shakily but then firm. Her antennae   
vision was blurred she realized as she tested her other sight then she realized the darts   
were poisoned as her normal vision blurred also. Her pains seemed to numb as well as her   
thoughts but she hung to being awake and life. She marched firmly onward.   
Her sigh swooned as she took in the second to last test. It was simple really in the   
center of the room was a book. She would have too read it aloud perfectly. If she wanted   
to be even Simi competent for the last test she would have to read the 100 words in   
ancient perfect Irken fast. Feeling like she was walking with her head in the clouds she   
aprocheched it and made the motion for it to open. Then she began to read not even   
knowing what she was speaking her instincts took over. Time blurred like her mind, and as   
she spoke the last word, she entered the last test unhampered.   
  
  
  
Muahahahah what is the last test you say well I don't know! I'll have it up tomorrow for   
you reading enjoyment. This took me 4 days sad is it not? 


	4. The showdown

Ado hay all! I did not want Cheleste to seem Mary Sue. (AKA perfect) 'cause she is not,   
but you must understand. In my twisted world she was created to be just that (AKA a   
tallest...)This chapter contains some reference to Dib Gaz Zim and what happened in my   
other two stories and where they are now.(^*^) Yay! This last test will be a shock or   
maybe not....   
  
  
Cheleste stumbled into the last room. Not knowing up from down, the   
multicolored room began to spin, but then her vision cleared as HE entered. Her   
antennae bristled and she scowled as the one she was trained to hate with a killing rage   
entered her sight. He was short. He was dressed in an invaders uniform, and she had a   
wicked urge to rip it open as well as his skin. He was the only invader to be captured, the   
only one to ever "quit" banishment. To disobey a direct order of the tallest. With a rage   
that in her drugged state she could not control or even understand, she leapt at him   
shuriken in hand. Zim (well duh) leaped upward to height impossible for one his size, but   
she countered lashing with her whip. It caught his leg and she yanked him out of the air.   
He however turned her force to his advantage, and kicked her in the stomach. The whip   
was knocked out of her hand as she again made a mistake. One more and she would die.   
she dove for it rolling at the last second. Her antennae seared with pain as they brushed the   
floor. Zim jumped again, and landed in a crouching position. She threw her shuriken as   
she twisted out of her role whip in hand. she nearly cringed as she damaged her leg   
further, but could not stop now, no not after all this. Zim ducked and scowled evilly. She   
swooned but kept focused, chanting the battel songs. She again lashed with her whip but   
he dodged it, as well as her retuning shuriken with a backwards handstand. Cheleste   
lunged and used both weapons as one. She faked for his legs, and as he leapt she   
entangled his arms. At the same time her shuriken sliced through his neck. His head fell   
to the floor revealing wires and circuitry that sparked as it died. A robot. This Zim was   
only a robot. She would have been angry, she might off felt pain, but she was too out of it   
to care. Cheleste stumbled half dead to the last door, a chute and fell into it.   
  
Dib stared at the endless stars as they passed. Sometimes he was amazed that he   
was in a Veet runner. In outer space. Seeing unknown inhabited planets. With his sister   
Gaz piloting, and his childhood enemy now a grudging comrade. On a Trip to destroy   
Zim's old rulers, or at least that's what Zim said, but he did not know. He could never tell   
with Zim nowadays. Or ever. He turned his view from the stars to Zim, who was looking   
at a vid screen bringing up a planet's information. Zim muttered to himself   
"Reagan we are getting closer." Dib thought back to the past months, and all the things   
that he would never have believed possible in his life, and he thought he had an open   
mind. He had met that Irken girl who had crashed into his car, and then minutes later they   
had been captured, and taken to the very lab where they had kept Zim. Then Gaz and Zim   
himself had rescued him and that poor Irken, but for her it had been to late. She had died   
in Zim's arms. He had then seen something in Zim that he had never seen before.   
Compassion. It was odd but in some ways he understood. He had most of Zim's   
memories. The less important and vivid ones had already begun to fade after the scientists   
at the compound had done things to his head. The old revenge bent Zim was out of his   
head. He now could understand the Zim he had battled and hated his whole life. It still   
scared him. Zim too had been mentally changed. In their last and greatest battel, he had   
sacrificed his memories to make Dib feel his pain. Zim had succeeded, but before he had   
finished, Dib had shot and nearly killed him in panic. Dib who had never killed anyone in   
his life, still shuddered when he thought about it. Then Gaz had taken them both to Dib's   
apartment. When Zim had awakened he had not recognized any of them. Not even Gir.   
He had left a week later with half his memory and a better disguise. He had to find his   
own way, and worried he might hurt Dib when he remembered everything. Dib had soon   
gotten progressively more depressed, as he relived Zim's worst memories in nightmare   
form, and sometimes when he was wide awake. He had nearly killed himself, but had ran   
to his car in desperation. He had driven far outside the city limits. Then he had met the   
Irken girl. By then Zim had gained his full memories back.   
Gaz had forced Zim to help get him back at first but, soon Zim had helped   
willingly. When Gaz had saved them with the veet runner, Zim had asked him to come   
with him to destroy The Tallest's. Gaz who had always been into adventure games, had   
instantly agreed. Dib had thought about it, and had said yes. He too could not resist the   
temptation of new worlds. Dib had wanted to return to his apartment for some gadgets.   
When he had entered his apartment, he was shocked to find it ransacked. His projects and   
experiments gone. Stolen by the government that would have killed them, or worse, if   
they had stayed. Before they had left the milky way They had buried the Girl who had, in   
her logs called herself Sphinxsa on Pluto. It was far enough from earth that no human   
would disturb the grave for a very very long time. Then they had started on the year long   
journey to the Irken empire. It was only a month into the trip but sometimes Dib felt it   
had been years. "Dib" Zim's voice shocked him back into the present day. "Dib your   
staring into nothing again." Dib shook his head then grinned apologetically. "Wha? oh, ah   
I'm sorry I was just thinking." Zim gave him an odd, sure you were.. look, then turned   
back to his own task. Zim still wore his Earthen made Red, thin striped black shirt, black   
jeans, boots, Dib's old trench coat, and his original black gloves minus the fingers. He   
now did not ware his disguise. There was no one to capture him because of it. Dib sighed,   
and he bord, wondered where Gir was. He had not heard from him for a wile. Dib's   
eyes opened wide as he realized what that could mean.   
  
One: He was playing with the engine.   
Two: he was rehearsing a new doom song.   
Three: something worse than those two combined.   
  
Dib got up which was kinda hard in the cramped space of the veet runner. He quickly   
opened the hatch that led to the manual engine controls. Inside was Gir surrounded by a   
mass of rubber piggies. Dib twitched at the sight of those pigs, but had no clue as to why.   
He wondered where Gir had gotten the piggies but he just shrugged it off. He felt like he   
did not want to know that one. Gir was sound asleep, and Dib did not have the hart to   
wake the Sir. Plus he was afraid of what he would do when he woke. So he edged   
backward and shut the hatch. He looked at Zim and Gaz. Each were totally engrossed in   
their own problems. So he just crept back to his niche to stare at the stars. He let out a sigh   
and wished that he could speed up time.   
Zim looked out of the corner of one of his undisguised eyes at Dib. He was   
obviously bored, or nostalgic. He would have to find something useful for Dib to do. Other   
than keeping Gir from destroying the runner, but he had other more important matters at   
hand. Zim knew he had to find away to hide the two humans, but how was still avoiding   
his brilliance. He had vague ideas about a cloak... They would soon approach Irken space,   
They had finally reached the first marker on their way back to Irk, and he could not   
suppress the bit of joy that came with that. He knew now that they had hated him. They   
had always. He could expect nothing but death on this trip, but his brainwashing was   
hard to fully ignore. He wondered if Red and purple had found a Pretallest yet. A perfect   
Irken child to be rased as a ruthless lazy murderer. Just like them. The "lucky" Pretallest,   
would be pampered and even more brainwashed than he had been. Zim felt pain in his old   
scars, at the thought of Red and Purple ruining another innocent. He nearly laughed at   
that. He was never a complete innocent, a brainwashed moron perhaps, but not innocent.   
That poor scribe though. Zim could not bare that though very well, and he shoved it out   
of his mind. he concentrated on his anger. He could deal with the emotion he had always   
controlled. That had always controlled him, and his race.   
  
Yea three reviews! Very good reviews too! This last part 'bout Zim and Dib were more   
about bringing people up to speed. They were major ooc, but I hope to kinda fix that later.   
(I hope) (^*^); 


	5. Dreams

Ado hay new chapter yay!!! More bout Cheleste now! I have reviews yaaaay! (^*^) By the way, I call all the water like substances liquid. 'cause Water would kill an Irken, but you all knew that!   
  
preparation and memories.  
  
Cheleste awoke slowly, and as her mind clicked awake, she expected to open her eyes to the goo. When she lifted one tired eyelid she was shocked, and both snapped all the way open. She was soaking in a luxurious bubble bath. The liquid was a pleasant lavender purple, and smelled of her favorite sent; roses. The water was very hot just like she liked it, and it was soothing. The bath its self was made of a marble like stone, and it was huge. She lay in a bench like niche that held her head out of the liquid. The room was so steamy she could not see much other than a wall of bubbles. She lifted the leg that had been injured, and expected to see the scars the Goo tanks left for deep wounds. She was shocked again when she saw perfectly healed skin. She tested her other "sight" It was clearer then ever. She felt none of the mild presence of poisons, that they never fully cleared out. None. She was so shocked she let out a startled gasp. Instantly an amphibian snake like creature emerged near her. "Is something wrong mistress Cheleste?" 'Mistress Cheleste!? No one since her father.. No' she slashed that odd thought, "Her Creator had called her by her true name. He and Verdai...' She stoned her self from those feelings. 'This has to be a test! Some kind of trick to lure her into false confidence. Again. Then destroy her. Unless she had died and this was heaven. No' she decided. "I have not died." She muttered out loud "No mistress." The little creature answered the unasked question "You have not died. This is just the beginning of your preparation." Cheleste lifted one nonexistent eyebrow "My what?" She asked the shock leaking into her normally emotionless voice. " Your preparation! You shall be treated as a chosen should. You shall be trained in your choice of presentation. Then after you are pampered and prepared for you future life the Tallest shall make their deception. I shall be your maidservant until then. My name mistress is Verila" Cheleste gaped at the creature who called herself Verila. She had finally broken the barrier? She had a chance to become Pretallest? To be a tallest one day! She had never been told what life as a Pretallest would be like. They did not want them to have any goals, other than proving they were the best. If they lived then they could think of their futures. She had made it! The tiny female was to be her servant! She would be pampered! Wait what is pampering? I don't care! Then she shook herself out of her giddy joy. She would not go soft. She had to prepare to be worthy of her tallest honors. This could still be a trap. She would enjoy this "pampering" but she would not let it destroy her warrior spirit. "Verila, I do not currently need assistance. I shall call you when I need anything. Notify me when my training is to commence." Cheleste ordered the tiny Female. She did not bother with pleases or thank you. Verila was a servant. She barely heard Verila Answer "yes Mistress!" Before sinking deep into the breathable liquid. She dozed off in the soothing warmth. For once sleeping deep and not lightly. Cheleste dreamed. She was very small. Tiny and helpless. She was in a tube. not a healing tube. Her tube was in a row of tubes. In a room so dark only the glow of the liquid cast any light. A strange person walked past. He had odd purple eyes that were squared like some scientists. He tapped on the glass, and she in her small body hovered close to where he had tapped and smiled. He smiled back and pressed a button on a remote that he held. Her tube drained of its warm liquid, and she rested on the still warm base. The glass lifted up, and he had bent down to lift her up. He was the first person she had ever seen, and out of intent she cried "Daddy!" in her high pitched baby voice. She grabbed his arm, and squeezed as hard as she could. He chuckled in a deep voice, and spoke "My, my what a strong grip for one so small. Ah what pretty light blue eyes you have. As would be expected with your genes. I shall call you Cheleste my light blue child. Some where in her mind she realized this was not a dream but a memory. But that's what dreams where. memories mixed up and twisted into something new. Then she was gone from his arms and was standing before a room of her fellow Irken elite. She spoke her lines of a war balled with crisp perfection. Then sat down in her chair. She sat as straight as she could and stared eyes un blinking at the teacher. Her attention honed. A deep green skinned girl walked to the front and began to recite. The scientist teacher in charge of her genetic group left the room. Confident that they would continue fine without supervision. Then the whisper started it was thirty seat back and low. Not even a normal Pretallest would be able to hear it. As the whisper said she was not normal. "Hey you did you see that girl with the light blue eyes." "Yes, Why?" "Well, Her eyes their ... their well, round!" "I know she looks so common! Even the scientists and engineers have square eyes. Yea she looks so common, so low. Her hyper sensitive antennae went more rigid then they already were at that. 'So common so low' rang in her mind. She felt her squeedly spooch twist into a knot. She would prove those slaughtering rats wrong.! she thought. In the end she had. She had lived and they had died. Her eyes were round like a commoner, so she had learned to keep them shut as much as she could. She had honed her other sight and hearing, so that she had not needed to see through her normal round eyes. Until the tests had began. When they had started the tests, she had needed every asset she had. No one had enough energy to spare for thinking about her eyes.. Then she was in her first test. Deep under liquid her favorite thing. She loved to swim. She was like a fish in its natural habitat. In the test, they had to get four of their 5 teammates to 10 check points. She was far in the lead, ahead of the rest. Then she heard vibrations in the water. She "saw" 10 clicks back a teammate caught in artificial sea weed. Without a thought she swam back, and ripped the caught Irken out. It had been Verdai, and they were now running out of air. Together they had swam as fast as they could. Their combined strength had pushed them ahead of their and other teams, until they got to the check point. They had helped each other out ever since then. With no reason other then they were friends. Something they had to hide from the scientists. They feared they would use it against them. Verdai did not care her eyes were round. She had thought they were pretty. "Like an unconquered planet" she had said. Then Verdai light green skinned, blue green eyed Verdai had been taken from her. They had been in the drop ship giving each other encouraging glances. Then she was gone. Cheleste mind had to blank the death out or go insane at how she had died. It had not been an easy death. Cheleste ran, pushing the wound of her friendship away from her. She relived the running that seemed to go on and on. In her dream she grew tired of running. She knew that she would have to face the true memories soon. She hated knowing that she was too weak to face them now. She drifted from the dream into a deeper dreamles sleep. 


	6. The light flute

I know this has been awhile but, I have been sick... Thank you for the constructive  
criticism! I really do appreciate all reviews, and what you tell me helps me to fix my  
work. I can't spell. I know that, and I'll go back again and try to find the errors, but   
I cant get them all.. spooty brain! I meant to say that if an invader got too close   
to a Tallest's height it was bad. Not if they got taller. I know that growing taller   
is looked upon with approval, but I doubt Red or Purple would like some who was only  
and inch or so smaller than them ... sorry about that .. I may or I may not kill   
them.. Muahahahahahahahahahaaaa /most likely not/  
  
  
The ceremony.  
  
Cheleste stood strait as the trainer passed her, and the others. Four other Irkens had  
survived the last test. It had been about two weeks since she had passed the test. They  
were about to enter the arena and face the Irken empire's citizens for the first time. The  
training had been hard. Harder then the training she had before the testing. Every day she  
had been stretched beyond her physical, and mental limits. She was trained to fight at a  
new level. She now did not waste a single motion when she moved, or fought. She trained  
against the other choices. She fought with simulations and with real life opponents. She  
learned to sharpen her mind like a sword and to wield it more efficiently. She learned  
about Irk's history and present. She now knew every planet in the conquered galaxy. She  
could name the planet's population, the invader that conquered it, and the basic status.  
She could speak the ancient language in a frequency that could only be herd in the upper  
level of antena hearing. She could talk without letting the enemy know her plans.  
At the end of her 18 hour day she was given anything she desired. Her rooms were   
beyond were above anything a invader could dream of. Sometimes that was  
not enough to compensate for the torture she received.   
Then she learned of her first true talent. It was called the light flute. The light flute  
was relatively simple looking. It was about a foot an a half long, and an inch in diameter.  
The flute was smooth and cylindrical. The holes ran horizontal down the length of it.  
There were 5 main fingerings, and about 3 smaller ones that refined the sound. The 5  
main ones were on the top, and the 3 smaller ones were for the thumbs. The flute was  
composed of what appeared to be glass and engraved with gold ivy like plants. The glass  
was actually a rare crystal from a planet of made completely of ice and solid rock. The  
crystal was only found once every thousand years or so. The music was simplistic and  
clear. An airy sound seemed to flow in the notes.   
There was two things that made the flute truly unique. One was that which gave it,  
it's name. An energy crystal secured into a bracket at the end of the flute. The gold leaves  
were really complicated circuitry. They would take the energy and bounce it of the crystal  
flute its self producing millions of tiny beams of light. . The player could change the color  
of the beams by twisting and adjusting the crystal in its frame. The other thing affected  
the sound and colors the instrument produced. It was movement. In the golden vines were  
tiny microscopic sensors that detected movement. Depending on momentum and speed  
they would change the flow of air and the reflection  
of the light.. To properly play the light flute you had to have fast agile fingers, training  
with the focusing crystals, and graceful flexible movement. No one had ever played the  
light flute past the most basic levels.   
When she had been shown the flute she knew immediately that she would play it.  
She would play it better then any before her.She would conquer it and use it to secure her  
greater victory. Wile the others adapted just their training for their choice, she learned of  
it in her own free time.  
The race that had created the light flute were long vanished. Even before the Irken  
empire had claimed the icy planet. From the ancient temple ruins that were  
found on the highest of the craggy mountains, they learned of how the race had looked.  
The faded cracked paintings on the walls had been of a race of pale white, almost light  
blue furred creatures. They had 4 bird like wings sprouting from their thin fragile torsos.  
They had 2 long lanky arms, and 4 equally lanky legs that ended in talons . A long grace  
full cat like tail completed the strange creatures' foreign looks. Their faces had always  
been hidden. their heads turned away, so all that could be seen were long manes of  
feathery hair.Cheleste still thought the creatures were beautiful, even if they looked  
nothing like the Irken race.  
The creatures' language they could not decipher, so they never knew the true name of the  
light flute or the race of people. The flute had been found in a temple, buried deep inside  
the heart of a small mountain. It had been surrounded by a mote of the rare crystals.   
Cheleste who's mind was tormented and twisted as well as her body so that she  
could be a true worthy tallest, had one bit of peace. When she played the flute the  
melody filled her and seemed to take away some of the pain of her life. She poured all her  
sadness anger and pain into it to produce songs that were deep and moving. Finally she  
had created the song she would play for her lords the Tallest. Then it was time for the  
ceremony.   
  
Red sighed as he looked through the 5 choices on a small vid screen. The first  
had normal red eyes and dark green skin. His name was Zorg. Red skimmed the page  
impatiently. Zorg was not very intelligent, but was incredibly strong. He had relied on  
the brute strength of a club for his weapon of choice, and a golem for his mech. He was  
fairly tal, and at the same time bulky and fat. Red frowned. He preferred warriors, but not  
one who relied only on his strength. Besides he wasn't too good looking ether. 'Nope. If  
you are going to rule the universe you have to look good!' he thought. The next was   
normal skinned with violet eyes. He was very thin even for a Pretallest. His name was  
Treen He had relied on his stealth, and agility. His weapon was a cloaking dagger. his  
mech. a burrow snake. 'Meaning he was a coward who did not even try to face his foes.'  
Red just asumed. He flicked to the next one without bothering to read the rest of Treens  
information. He took one look and the orange eyed pale green choice, read The words;  
Oda trys to out smart his foes by using confusing and diversion tactics, and flipped to the  
next. He grew tired of these spineless choices. If the next did not show signs of being  
worthy he would just pick the best looking one, and try to turn the choice into a true  
warrior. His next choice had skin that was a slight bit lighter then normal and had round  
ice blue eyes. Hmm that's unusual. Red murmured out loud. His curiosity was perked.  
The choice was a little thinner then the last choices. He then read the reason why. She  
was female. Now that was truly unusual. The females did not normally pass the tests to  
reach this level. He read more interested on how this choice had handled the tests and  
gotten this far. Her name was Celeste. Her genetics were taken from a very rare strain of  
DNA found only among some rim world colonists at the edge of their empire. The rest of  
the genetic information was blank. She was very fast and extremely agile. She had met all  
her enemies head on and had survived the gurod. That really startled Red. No warrior had  
ever survived an encounter with a gurod. Never. She was also highly intelligent, her  
choice of a Cagen cat for her mech had been very cunning. The creature had been made  
for the plains and was very fast. Even though it was fast she had destroyed all the things  
that had challenged her never running from one. She just destroyed them without delaying  
her forward path. She had passed the final test with only two mistakes. That to was rare.  
She had survived with mistakes showing she had great endurancem, and curage. Most  
commited suicide if they made one. Red ignored the fact that the others had passed  
perfectly. Unintentionally Red was growing to like this choice. He thought she had spunk.   
Red brought up footage of her trials. He rooted when she wasted a rat creature and  
winced when she was hit. As he watched he grew to admire her grace and form. She  
handled her sword almost as well as he had.Of course she was not as good as he was, but  
he could train her to be even better. He had made up his mind. Cheleste would be his  
Pretallest. Even if Purple thought otherwise.  
Purple in the mean time had been also viewing Cheleste profile, and he too  
admired her skills. For different reasons. He was shocked that she could read the ancient  
Irken with such a natural flare and grace. She had been able to do so, even when she was  
drugged and poisoned to a half dead state. He viewed her academic scores and was  
pleasantly surprised to see that she had been the top of her class. Not as good as his scores  
of course but with a little work she would make a good partner for discussion of some of  
his theories. Red was too much of a warrior to enjoy a truly intellectual conversation. He  
got bored too fast. As he viewed some of her test footage he watched as she, using her  
brains not weapons survived the gurod. She had taken to the air, knowing she could not  
fight to her advantage on the ground. He made up he mind. 'This Celeste will be my  
Pretallest even if Red disagrees.'  
  
  
  
Cheleste marched with pride as entered the arena floor. Millions of Irkens applauded and  
whistled. They formed a line in the center. Then their creators walked in and stood  
behind them. She was nervous but kept her mask of no emotions tight. If she showed one  
error now she was doomed. Suddenly the arena grew silent. The Almighty tallest entered.  
The crowed roared with approval as the tallest were lowered into the arena. Red Without  
saying a word viewed the line. He spotted her quickly enough. Her icy blue eyes showed  
no emotion, but he knew she had to be nervous. As nervous as he had been. he smiled and  
nodded to purple who smiled back then slowly hovered down the line. Then to Reds  
amazement he put a hand on Cheleste shoulder acknowledging that he wanted to see her  
talent. Red was hard pressed to keep from gawking in shock, but he too floated down the  
line, and placed a hand on Cheleste shoulder. Then hovered to his seat on the  
platform next to Purple.  
Cheleste could not contain the shock that was inching down her body. She could barely  
keep her antennae from quivering. The other choices filed out the way the came. Their  
creators not far behind. She was led to a side room. She felt like screaming her favorite  
victory cry but contained it. She was changed into her Pretallest's uniform. She felt  
awkward with only two fingers on one hand, but she had prepared for this. She could still  
play her flute. That was all that mattered. She realized dazed there was a chance that she  
would not be good enough. No, she snapped that thought out of her mind. if she thought  
that way she would fail. She would not fail. For Verdai. For her creator. For the tallest.  
  
Red and Purple sat in their seats high above the crowd and watched as their choice  
walked out. 'I hope she picked a weapon for her talent.' Red thought excitedly   
'hope she picked a good balled to read,' purple thought anxiously. She stepped onto her  
platform and was taken high above the ground, but still lower then the tallest. The light  
flute warped in front of her. She grasped it firmly with both hands.  
she made a small bow then lifted the flute to a playing position. A mist began to emerge  
from around her feet and it slowly covered the platform and began to roll off the edges  
disappearing a few feet below. It gave the effect that she was standing on a cloud. Purple  
whispered happily  
"Smoke machines!" Then Celeste began to play. She blew softly and the focus crystal  
came to life, sending a billion specs of laser like light into the crowd. The crowd reached   
for the fleeting lines, watching in awe as the colors shifted. Red murmured happily  
"lasers!"  
Celeste adjusted her fingering and the crystal. The rainbow of color turned to a dazzling  
blue and purple array. Her song was low and had a slow tempo. It was a sad song that  
seemed to flow with pain and despair. Purple wiped a tear from his eye. She began to  
dance in an old fashioned way with long grace full flowing movements that added another  
level of depth to the morn full  
tones. Then she began to shift the song. She changed the color to yellows blues and  
greens. Her dance  
turned from slow and long movements to short steps with jumping movements  
punctuating the high notes of the song. The music its self morphed into a light high  
noted song that sounded like birds and spring. It gave the effect of a new spring after a  
hard winter. After a few moments she added white to the colors and added some twirling  
motions to her dance. She was careful to control her breathing so that the movement did  
not interfere with her music. Then she shifted the colors to a new set. Red orange and  
yellows filled the air. She began to play music that was went high then dipped low. That  
sang without words of the heat of battles won and fought bravely. Her dance was now  
more complex. It looked almost as if she was  
fighting something. She spun and high kicked furiously, jumping and dogeing invisible  
blows. The music seemed to flow with the movement. When she scored a hit against her  
invisible foe it was high and victories. When she seemed to be hit it swooped low in  
angry tones.  
Red found himself caught up with the battel and almost yelled out in support. Then with  
a note that had an odd sound high and at the same time low she finished the piece with a  
forwards flip into standing position. Her head bowed with her flute. The swirling mass of  
laser like light cutting out with the music. For a few seconds there was stunned silence.  
Cheleste began to feel nervous. Then crowed began to applauded. it tuned into a roar of  
approval. antennae wiggling screaming and stopping the crowd was dazzeled. Then Red  
and purple stood. They looked at each other and nodded. Red stepped forward and with  
his hands rased he announced "We have made our decision. For our Pretallest we have  
chosen Cheleste. The crowd's praise seem to shake the stadium. Cheleste felt her knees  
go weak, but she stood firm to shocked to say or do anything. She felt like she was  
dreaming and at any moment she would wake up to a goo tube. Her platform floated  
down to the floor. followed by the  
Tallest's. She followed numbly behind them as they began to hover out their own exit.   
She was still too shocked to do much, but a thought leaked into her numb brain. 'That  
was for you Verdai.' 


	7. To raid a planet

No, that is not a hint of Zadr! Don't know what I'm talking bout? You will..   
*Grins evilly* Thanks again Jen and Cicero for you reviews, and being my beta! (^*^)  
Everyone thank Jen and Cicero, for making my work more readable! *crowd  
cheers*  
  
  
  
Planet raiders  
  
Zim viewed his vid screen angrily. It said that the fuel in the engine pods were less then  
half way full. There was no way they would make it to the center of the empire with  
cloaking, and weapons. The Voot Runner had a cloaking device, but it's past owner did  
not uses it. She had not thought the humans would be looking for her, or even be able to  
get past the radar dampeners the ship had. She did not know what the humans had gained  
by capturing Zim.   
"The damage from the crash must have been greater than I had first   
assessed.." Zim thought. He narrowed his eyes angrily. This would mean they would have  
to land on an inhabited planet. The closest one was Gred-238. The inhabitants had been  
creatures made of molten lava. Before the armada. Now it was a giant refueling station  
for invaders. The tricky part would be getting the energy and getting out. The station  
security was fairly lax, but all ship codes were registered and a quick background check  
was done. If they landed the traditional way they would be captured before they could say  
Irk. IF they landed the traditional way... Zim smiled his evil smile and began to laugh...   
"Ingenious!Muahahahahahahahaaa!" He cut it short when he saw the looks he was  
receiving from Dib andGaz. "What?" he answered to their questioning looks. Dib shook  
his head and said  
"You have just created a plan to bring doom to your enemies, haven't you?  
Zim's evil grin widened "Yes, Yes I have."  
"What by any chance is this plan?" Dib said. A smile appeared on his own  
face.  
"To raid a planet." Zim answered innocently.Gaz muttered to herself as Zim and Dib  
began to discuss the details.  
"finally some action! It was starting to get nostalgic in here."  
Zim's plan was relatively simple. The planet was all ware houses and boxes.  
There was a web of refilling pods that formed a sensor field, They would fly into the  
blind spot in the security field. It was a very small hole. Just large enough for the Voot  
Runner to get in. Then it would be simple enough to sneak into the main building steal  
the fuel and get out without a scratch.  
'Right like that would ever happen with one of Zim's plans.' Gaz thought as  
she shifted the Veet runner out of auto pilot. She brought up the special modes on the  
screen in front of her. She touched cloak and the ship went slightly opaque. Of course no   
one on the outside would see anything but another patch of empty black space. Zim was  
pulling on his trench coat and a pair of black glasses. Zim, to fight off the boredom of  
being trapped in a Voot Runner for two months, with Gir, Gaz, and Dib, had devised  
some very interesting toys. The glasses had night vision, heat vision, binoculars, slight  
x-ray vision, and limited cloaking ability. They gave 10 minutes of cloak, and could see  
through 10 feet of different objects. The batteries would be dead when the cloak was used  
up. Cloaking anything required a lot of energy and if they failed the mission they would  
not be able to far away from the planet. Zim tossed a pair at Dib who caught them with  
ease. He then tossed a pair at Gaz who without looking behind her caught them. She  
pushed them on and waited as they scanned her retina. They now would only work for  
her. She touched the sensor on the left side and the glasses shifted in to normal vision.  
Dib loaded his laser pistol with a full cartridge of energy. Then he strapped a line of ion  
energy grenades over his chest. They would rip through most average machinery like they  
were scrap metal. Needless to say Gir would not be coming on this mission. Gir was  
sleeping in the back with the promise that if he did not leave the ship he would get some  
tacos. Dib tossed Zim and Gaz pistols and energy packs. Gaz caught hers and in one  
smooth motion loaded it. The planet was completely automated no Irkens or other living  
creatures would be on the surface. Gaz gave her brother and Zim a wordless nod and  
pushed the acceleration to the max. She steered the ship towards the fast approaching  
planet. It looked like a giant industrial district. Gaz swung the ship downwards into the  
meteor field. They would have less chance of being detected by the periodic radar waves  
that were sent into space. She smiled as her brother and Zim screamed as she narrowly  
dodged a passing meteorite. She wove in and out of the meteors, twisting and turning to  
avoid the shower of projectiles.Zim and Dib had grabbed the nearest thing to cling on  
while screaming. Each other. (get it now?) Gaz abruptly stopped the Runner. Dib and Zim  
slammed in to the pilots chair then into the back of the cruiser. They looked at each other,  
separated, and scrambled backwards away to opposite sides of the runner. Gaz advanced  
the runner slowly out of the field then brought up a side screen with the location of the  
hole. Timing it to the last second she pushed the speed back up and got through just as  
another scan passed. Zim and Dib looked at each other. Then at Gaz who was landing the  
Runner smoothly in a space between the large ware houses. Gaz whispered quickly as she  
prepared to open the cockpit "Zim we will follow your lead." Zim and Dib nodded. Then  
the cockpit was open.  
  
Zim tensed as he hit the ground and turned the heat vision on his glasses.   
No droids were close. Now Gaz had landed near the B stock building. The planets layout  
was old and not much different from when he had his own voot Runner. So they would  
have to get to building C. Zim felt an adrenaline boost he had not had in years. He was on  
a mission. It did not matter that he had failed, that he was worthless to so many. He had a  
mission. Zim edged to the corner of the alley and switched to x-ray. The cost was clear.  
He double checked with his antennae but could not "see" anything. He made a motion  
with his hand that the coast was clear. Gaz and Dib jumped out of the Voot Runner and it  
closed disappearing completely. Zim grasped his laser pistol tightly then ran to into the  
street. He jumped and rolled over and behind a pile of crates 10 feet from the   
alley. He looked quickly for any sign of movement or droids. None. Nothing moved  
between the giant looming warehouses. He raised his hand over the edge of the crates.  
Within seconds Gaz and Dib were behind him. He switched to heat vision and looked  
over the boxes. The dark street ended in a main path. Red, yellow, and green outlined  
droids and robots that passed every minuet or so. None had bothered to check the side  
street. They were on their preprogrammed missions Zim had found a side street then  
another main street until they all reached building C. If they used cloak they could pass  
the main streets easily, but would have nothing to cover their escape. Zim quickly made  
his decision If they cloaked for only the main streets and ran at top  
speed they would have enough to get in the building. If they used an ion  
grenade the guard would not have enough time to signal help, but it would draw   
attention, so they would stay cloaked until inside the building.  
Zim whispered this to Gaz and Dib then jumped up, hit cloak, and ran. The glasses were  
really not quite done. This was their first field test. If they failed their last. Zim ran  
without looking back. The road was 50 feet wide and had many rivets that were tracks for  
large vehicles. it was easy to avoid the slow moving worker droids that were moving  
different boxes of parts and tools. Zim would give his right antenna for some of those  
tools but they had no time. They made it into the side road with no hitches. They  
decloaked behind more crates. Gaz and Zim were not even breathing hard. Dib was a bit  
out of breath but was ready by the time Zim had scouted out the next road. They cloaked  
again and ran across the next main street. This one was even more crowded and they had  
trouble avoiding the droids but made it safely across.   
There in front of them was building C. The largest of all the storage buildings it was  
about 30 stories tall. Two droids guarded the entrance, and Zim, Dib, and Gaz ran  
between them cloaked without a hitch. Once inside the gates they stared up at the endless  
range of boxes assembly lines and parts. Zim led them down a few side passage ways. He  
had warned them earlier to memorize the way out in case something happened to him.  
They finally went through a large door marked in Irken writing. They turned off their  
cloaking, and stared at the rows of endless large clear vats filled with purple energy. Dib  
said quietly "Shouldn't there be radiation?" In an equally   
soft voice Zim answered "No the energy is not radioactive. Irkens had invented a safe  
efficient energy source long before I came to earth." Zim walked quickly over to a vat and  
touched a console at the bottom. A tube shot out from the bottom. Zim removed a tiny  
cube from his pocket. He pinched it and it grew into a round back pack like container. He  
attached the tube to a closed hole in the backpack and touched a few buttons on the  
console. He waited a few minuets and then pressed a few more when it beeped. The back  
pack was full and the hole was closed again. Zim took two more cubes out and repeated  
the process. When he was done he handed the full backpacks to Dib and Gaz shouldering  
one himself. He suppressed a shudder at the feel of the pack on his back. It always  
brought painful memories. His original backpack had been connected directly to his  
nervous system. It had been like another set of arms and legs. When the humans had  
removed it, they had not known what it would do to him. They had tried to be careful not  
wanting to kill him so early, but they did not understand how directly it connected to his  
very existence. It had almost killed him. They had tried their best to save him, but in the  
end the end they had given up and left him half dead, floating in and out of awareness. If  
he had not been so bitter, stubborn, and bent on revenge he would have died. He had  
clung to life with all his remaining strength and slowly his superior immune system  
repaired the severe damage. The phantom pain still shot up his spine some times.  
  
Dib and Gaz had already gotten ready to leave, and were heading for the door.  
Then a siren went off, and filled the air with it's wailing alarm. Zim crouched  
into a fighting position automatically, heart racing, antennae back. Then a millisecond   
later he realized what it was and shouted out   
"We have been discovered! cloak and meet at the first main road!"  
Dib looked shocked then angry and cloaked disappearing from Zim's view. Then  
Gaz who had a very familiar smile vanished. Zim, positive his team was safe, cloaked  
also then ran pistol ready as the guard robots began to approach. The Guards were large   
and bulky looking. They had wheels for legs, and two club like arms. Laser guns  
bristled from very possible place. Zim ran on dodging the guards as they raced by,   
looking for intruders. He knew in a few minuets the guard would switch to heat vision  
and then he would be dead. He scrambled out the door and onto the road. Then in front of  
him he saw Dib's cloak flicker once, twice then fall as he was half way across the road.  
Then Gaz's followed and he could see them reach the safety of the crates just as laser  
beams burned through them. He felt his own cloak failing and yelled to Dib. "Dib,   
quickly! Throw a grenade!" Zim felt a laser burn into his side, and tripped as his foot   
caught and twisted in one of the track rivets. A bright white flash went off in front of  
Zim. He felt waves of energy wash over him harmlessly. His glasses sparked and burned.  
He pulled them off and threw them away as they burst into flames. He was blinded by the  
blast and tried to stand but fell as pain shot up from his ankle. He felt himself being lifted  
up. He began to struggle, but stopped as he heard Gaz voice "Zim stop struggling it's me."  
Blinded, burned, and unable to stand let alone run Zim could not argue. He still felt weak   
and embarrassed that he needed help from a human. Then he mentally slapped himself.  
That was the old Zim. He would not be so arrogant. "I still don't like to rely on anyone!  
Human or non human Invaders need no one!" The stubborn part of him argued. Of course  
then he remembered. He was no longer an Invader. Gaz ran with Zim over her shoulder,  
firing shots off at the robots scrambling to attack. Zim was a bit heavier than last she had  
to carry him. "He took my advise, I guess," she mumbled out loud. Dib ran behind her  
throwing grenades over his shoulder. The sound of machinery exploding and short  
circuiting was deafening. Finally after what seemed like hours the made it to the runner.  
Gaz barked a command in Irken at theship and it opened. Dib looked shocked and was  
about to ask a question but Gaz cut him off   
"Not now Dib! We have got to get out of here." She tossed a protesting Zim  
into the Veet Runner. He landed with a scream of pain. Gaz and Dib leaped after him.  
They were greeted by Gir's happy "Hiiiiiii!!!!" Gaz jumped on to the pilots chair,  
closed the cockpit hatch, and took off crashing through robots trying to block their path.  
Gaz furiously punched buttons on the control panel as a swarm of anti air robots took off  
after her. Gaz's chair automatically strapped her in as she pulled into a flip over and  
behind her pursuers. Ignoring the screams of her brother, Gir, and Zim, she let off a round  
of laser fire at the robots. Each connected with it's mark. Gaz brought up a map of the  
planet. She located the radar station. She had 2 minutes to get there before it sent off  
their information to every planet and the center of the empire. She pushed the speed  
higher while letting the energy lasers charge. A ball of energy was growing fast in front of  
the ship, and almost obscured her view. She aimed at the giant radar dish and fired. Not  
wanting to be caught in the backwash of the energy, she turned and sped away from the  
explosion that rocked the planet. As they were zooming away from the planet, Gaz  
watched as explosions spread. There would be nothing left on the planet to tell about their  
little raid.   
  
I had more in the works but I wanted to get a chapter up so this is all for  
now (^*^) 


	8. Verila friend or slave?

Okays my latest reviews have been good! Some of you seem to be confused... !  
A Vee Dee runner or Veet runner is not a voot runner. If you read new  
beginnings you can learn more about that (^*^) 2) Chapter 4 has to deal with  
my first story and it's sequel. This is the third story in a trilogy. 3) I  
did not write that nose bleed story. I wish I did cause it's really funny,  
but sad to say I did not. I think that was all. the things in the reviews I  
wanted to clear up so now on to chapter 8!! Thanks again Jen!  
  
Verila, Servant or Friend?  
  
Cheleste stood at the edge of her balcony looking at the suns setting over  
the endless city. She wished she could be doing something other then this  
endless pampering. After she had won the right to be Pretallest, she had  
expected rigorous training. She had expected more mind blowing torture and  
pain. She had expected her Tallest to be serious and professional when they  
talked to her like subordinate she was. When she had exited the arena she   
had  
been led to a room where she had kneeled on one knee head bowed in respect   
to  
her leaders. It had been difficult in the purple dress, but she had managed.  
She expected to hear a speech, or a briefing about her duties. She had asked  
as she had been told "What are my orders, Sirs?'" They had burst out  
laughing. With all that excitement nerve rattling pressure, and now they  
were laughing at her? She could not help it when she began to frown, her  
antennae dropping. Purple had smiled and said "Get up already, solider.  
There's no need for that!"  
"Yea!" Red had agreed "You are a Pretallest now! Pretallest don't need to  
hide  
their emotions! Let me see you smile!" Her eyes widened the slightest in  
shock. "I said smile!" She managed a confused grin. Purple whispered loudly  
(*O/M) "She's cute when she's confused." Red nodded and spoke.  
"OK, Cheleste, you can go to your room now. We'll call you for you lessons   
in a  
couple of hours."  
"That means you are dismissed soldier." Purple added when she did not get  
up. She stood up still grinning idiotically bowed and left. When she stepped  
out side the door closed, and she heard them laughing. Then one of them   
said, "Man,  
were we ever that serious?" The other answered,  
"No, Red, you have never been serious!" Then she had been led by two   
overlarge guard bots, who had wanted to carry her like some piece of delicate China.  
She had promptly ordered them to just lead her there. They complied after   
she whacked them each on their heads. They had led her to her rooms.  
Before she had had a bedroom and a bathroom, both lush but somewhat sparse   
and not really her style. She expected the same now.  
As she entered her room she was encased in a box like corridor. Seeing no  
exit she prepared to fight her way out. Then the box was filled with images. The   
floor was black, but all the other walls and the ceiling were filled with colors.   
A voice coming out of nowhere said "Pick your favorite colors." Cheleste  
thinking it was some kind of new test picked black and ice blue, silver and   
navy blue, a deep blue, and a few violet shaded purples. She said in ancient   
Irken "Drone." or done when nothing happened she simply said it out loud in normal  
Irken. The images changed into different styles of furniture and  
architecture. She chose a Roman like architecture style from the planet  
Farnooth and Egyptian like furniture style from a planet called Raedian.   
Then the screen changed into something new creatures of all races and   
descriptions filled the screen. "Pick your slave!" said the voice. 'What?' I already have  
Verila. Thought Cheleste. Out loud she spoke "I don't want a new slave, I  
want my friend Verila." "Complying." said the computer. Then before she   
could  
think about what she had said, the screen flashed white and disappeared.  
Cheleste blinked a few times then stared in awe at the scene that greeted  
her. The first room had a textured medium blue walls with marble like   
streaks of silver. The floor was made of a warm fur like ice blue carpet that  
shimmered in sun light. There was a Large sky light revealing her first   
cloud swirled Irken sunset. The room had a large deep blue Egyptian couch. A large  
marble table sat in front of it. The whole room had edgings of purples.  
Behind the couch was something Cheleste had dreamed of. A wall of clear  
glass opened onto a wide stone balcony with lavender tipped light blue roses  
growing along the entrance and railing. She swung the doors open and the   
scent of the freshly bloomed roses drifted down and filled her senses. She ran   
back inside and opened one of the doors that were on each side of the living   
room.   
It slid up revealing a bathroom. It was exactly that a bath room. The room  
was centered on a Roman like bath tub, which was more like a small swimming  
pool then a tub. The walls were made of mirrors separated by silver columns.  
The floor was a black marble streaked with silver highlights. The ceiling   
was a mural of aquatic life that was constantly moving with new creatures and  
life forms. Cheleste drank in the wonder of this room, so happy she felt   
like her heart would burst  
She stepped slowly in a happy daze out of the room and to the other door.  
There was the most comfortable looking, large, rectangular with rounded  
edges, bed she had ever seen in her entire life. Without registering   
anything else she stumbled towards the bed, too spent to do anything but collapse   
into it. When she woke she was tucked under the blankets staring at the  
unfamiliar ceiling. She leapt out of the bed and landed in fighting pose,  
antennae back, arms up, crouched and ready. Then she realized where she was   
and dropped the pose. She stared at the soft blue carpet the walls that were a  
moving mural of a craggy ice swept planet, swirled with white  
clouds. the ceiling was just a plain white. Then her door swished open.. She  
whirled around back into a fighting stance, and again dropped it at when she  
saw the cause.  
  
Verila slinked in and bowed to her asking in her soft voice  
"Is every thing all right mistress Celeste?" Cheleste sighed with relief. In  
the long period of training for the ceremony Verila had become indispensable  
and more then just an another slave. Cheleste had slowly warmed to her  
servant and now thought of her as more of a friend even if she had been told  
over and over slaves were just that slaves. Nothing more nothing less. Of  
course Verila was inferior and not nearly as intelligent, but she list ened  
and seemed to care. In some ways she was almost like Verdai.   
"I'm fine Verila I just was a little shocked that's all. I did not realize  
where I was." Cheleste smiled then said "And I told you to call me  
Cheleste."  
"Yes mistress." was Verila's smiling answer. Celeste just sighed.  
  
A month had passed with a lesson every day by one or both of her leaders,   
who had slowly broken down her emotionless mask. They had each taught her in their  
field of specialty. She smiled and joked with her mentors and learned what they felt  
like teaching. She was now more prepared to actually lead those she knew so much  
about. For now though she was just a girl looking at her beautiful city.  
Dreaming of a different kind of freedom. For though she was very young for   
an Irken, she still had nightmares about her life of trials. She wanted to be  
free of all the watching and training. Of the eyes that watched her every  
move and analyzed her thoughts and feelings. To be an invader free of   
worries about being ruler would be paradise. To have a back pack full of surprises.  
To conquer a planet with her own S.I.R. She had every thing she could want  
in possessions, but felt like an exotic bird in a gilded cage. Her life felt  
surreal, like at any moment she would wake in a goo tank being prepared for  
some new test. She had been so happy to finally be done with the fear that  
any moment would be her last. That she was be the most powerful being in the  
universe. She said jump and her subjects would say how high?  
As the weeks moved on she had watched real people moving with free will. She  
was taken all over the galaxy to see what she would rule. To see her  
subjects. They all had jobs, but they had choices in their jobs. They could  
plan their future dream of a advancement of a reward at the end of their  
work. Even the slaves seemed to have more freedom then her. If she left her  
rooms she was tailed by 4 guards at all times.  
  
She was still happy on the outside joking about the tallest dresses that Red  
and purple called robes, and training as hard and with as much passion as  
ever. On the inside she felt hollow alone and afraid. Her mentors treated   
her like some kind of toy. A shiny new plaything for them to spoil. She hated it  
in a way. She did not hate her lords. No, she could not, so deep was her  
programming, but she still hated being spoiled. Cheleste walked back into   
her rooms and then into her bedroom. She fell onto the bed and without realizing  
it began to cry. She hated it all. She hated that she was so false. That all  
she had was not really hers. That her one true friend was gone. That she had  
no way of showing her pain, and if she did no one could understand. They  
would call her spoiled she had everything any one could want. She hated that  
she had no goal to reach for, no hopes or dreams, just her perfect future   
laid out and mapped without a bump. She was the future Almighty Tallest, and   
would stand all alone with billion lives to command, even though she could not  
even control her own. Nothing in her life felt real. No one loved her for   
who she was, not what she was. She wanted to end the nightmares of viewing her  
friend and fellow choices dying and fighting just so one of hundreds could  
rule. No one asked if she wanted to be what she was. Then Verila slid into the  
room and Cheleste turned the tears sliding down her face. Verila had coiled around  
something Cheleste Had not seen for a month.The light flute. Cheleste got up and took  
it gently from her friend. Looking in Verila's eyes she saw a familiar pain of being   
trapped. So she slowly began to play. She moved slowly in a whirl of blues and blacks   
in a wave of despair to the balcony where she stood over her city playing her low   
mournful bird like song. She played deep into the night, tears running down her face   
as she poured her emotions once again into her song. The song was beautiful,   
and sad. Just like her life. It was the song of a girl who had never held the  
child like belief that the world should be fair.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
*(o/m) oxy moron.. (^*^) 


	9. Betrayal

HOOOH new chapter! Yea! More praise to my fellow fanfic author JEN! Hmm have   
I added a disclaimer yet? Nope… Disclaimers are EVIL! Oh well. If you have not  
realized it by now I am not Jhonen *Sigh* or Nick *shudder* so I don't own  
Invader Zim. I couldn't care less if you used my creations.  
  
Cheleste awoke the next day feeling horrible. She had not eaten in days and  
felt hung over. Verila slinked into her room and told her what was planned  
for her day… Her initiation ceremony. This perked Celeste's interest. In all  
her training she had never heard of an initiation ceremony. The tallest had  
never mentioned it. But Cheleste dutifully prepared. She washed and dressed  
herself then followed the guardbots to where the ceremony would take place.  
After walking down many halls, she finally was stopped in front of a  
Laboratory door. She became nervous at this. She had not been near a lab for  
a long time, and ceremonies normally had many viewers. She entered the lab   
any way. Suddenly she remembered the tone of Verila's voice when she had   
told her  
of the ceremony. It had been scared, sad, and almost desperate. The   
panicked,  
fearful look in her eyes, as if she had wanted to say more.  
By then it was too late and she was already trapped. Tubes and wire shot out  
of nowhere and wrapped around her arms. She fought screaming battle cries   
and  
curses, but it was futile. She was dragged to the center of the small room.  
The lights were so bright she could not see. Then the back of her robe was  
ripped open, and she felt wires ripping into her spine, sending a wave of  
pain like none she had ever felt rippling through her body. Lower down her  
spine another set was attached. Wave after wave of pain ran through her as  
the wires dug themselves into her nerve and muscle. Cheleste was in too much  
pain to even scream. It was only seconds but it felt like years. Then it  
stopped, and she felt something click into the two holes. Cheleste hung  
weakly in the wires, wanting to die instead of moving again. The two tubes  
attached to the sides of her head. Cheleste had thought that the pain of  
before was beyond belief. This new pain was worse. She felt her very mind  
being ripped apart. Slowly she could feel her memories being burned from   
her  
brain. Her first test. Verdai's smile. Her creator. Verila's kindness. The  
pain she had felt moments before. All were being ripped from her. She was  
too shocked and paralyzed to resist as her past was replaced with new images  
of loyalty to her empire. Of being the most superior race. Slaves were   
stupid  
and worthless… useful but unnecessary. She had always been given what she  
wanted. She would keep the memory of her training, but not of the tests.   
Chele  
ste felt shock first, then anger at it all, and she began to fight it. Even  
though the pain was beyond belief she could not let them take her memories  
away. If she forgot Verdai then who would remember the arrogance strength   
and courage of the young Irken. Verdai would truly be dead to the world.   
If she forgot the trials no matter how painful, how could she relate to the  
suffering of her people? If she let them win she would lose the very things  
that made her strong. So she fought with all her strong will against the  
brainwashing, but in the end her strength was not enough to keep what she  
held dear. So as her mind went numb in submission to her new programming,  
part of her hid away the most powerful of her feelings in a part of her mind  
not even the wipe could reach. They would become the key. This done she gave  
in and hung limply as the pain coursed through her and they wiped away her  
past, and gave her a new future. No one had ever won against the brain  
washing.  
But no one had ever told her that.  
  
  
  
  
Cheleste woke and sat up slowly. She watched unfeeling as her servant slowly  
entered and bowed submissively. She narrowed her eyes, and did not suppress  
the sneer that crawled across her face. She wondered why she had not picked   
a more suitable servant. Cheleste got up and stood above the slave. She made a  
motion for her to speak. The slave, still bowed told her what she was  
expected to do.   
"Mistress today you have lessons with the almighty tallest, then studies on  
the cruisers and runners of today's empire." Cheleste turned the recording  
device in her back pack on and made the slave repeat her schedule. Then she  
told the low one to leave her sight. Sighing with boredom she walked over to  
the shelf of her trophies. The shuriken and whip of her final test, and the  
light flute, all in their respective cases. She opened the light flutes   
case, and lifted the flute. She played a few notes, but they sounded flat,  
empty. The colors would not change from grays and dull whites. The tone did not  
change with even her most graceful movement. It sounded dull, dead. Angry,  
Cheleste tossed it on her bed. "Stupid flute! What did I ever see in that  
worthless piece of junk? It was made by ugly inferiors, and it IS ugly and  
inferior!" She had the sudden urge to shatter the delicate crystal, but  
instead placed it roughly back into it's case. She changed into her new   
light  
blue and white robes, and left to join her mentors. 


	10. the free people

AAnother chapter… more yummy angst for you to enjoy. Again I seem to have lost  
reviewers… oh well. I'm writing this more for myself then the reviews.... I dedicate  
this story to Jen.. You have more talent then you can see.  
  
  
  
  
Bad things a coming  
  
Red sat in his chair aboard the bridge of the massive. The bridge was almost empty. A  
few crew members were scattered around. To him it was as if he was alone. He sighed  
impatiently. Purple was running late again. They were supposed to be planning the next  
lesson for Cheleste. He sighed again as he thought about her. She seemed different  
somehow... It had started a couple of days ago. During her lesson she had acted more  
confidently. She had been happier then he had ever seen her. At least more then when  
she was around Purple and himself. Normally he would have been glad about this, but it  
was to sudden to be natural. She had seemed almost sad the day before, but had tried her  
best to hide it. The happiness she showed now was almost artificial. He had thought in  
time she would realized just how privileged she was to be a Pretallest. He had not thought  
it would be so sudden… It was more then her attitude, it was also in her fighting style,  
something Red studied and lived by. Before she had an air of grace and swiftness. She  
had a steady light rhythm, and enjoyed sparring almost as much as he did. He could tell  
by the glow in her face and smiling eyes that she could not quite hide. Today, when they  
had sparred, she had been fast, furious and stiff. She fought with almost a poker face, and  
her eyes were like icy pits. There colors were sharp and cold. her emotions reflected the  
color of her foreign eyes. Red shivered slightly. What had happened to his ta chune? It  
was as if someone had drained the life from her. His little ta chune had changed, and he  
somehow knew it was not for the better. He turned his mind from these troubling   
thoughts, to other pressing business he had to deal with.   
The People's Alliance they call themselves. He sneered. "Alliance? They are nothing  
more then a bunch of filthy rebels…" A bunch of ragtag slaves that had escaped  
from their planets. He thought this to himself, confident of his superiority. If that  
were all though he would have dismissed it without a doubt. They would be found and  
killed swiftly. There was more. This was the part that troubled him. It seemed that Some  
Irken soldiers and civilians were joining this alliance. Not enough to worry the common  
Irken, but if the empire had lost even one loyal Irken something was wrong. This too   
should have been an easily fixed situation, capture the Irkens and reintroduce them into  
society. In short brain wash them. They had been at an attempt to do just that, when the  
rebels had taken it too far. They had dared to steal a high class Irken ship with cloaking  
and destroy an entire fuel planet that was an important stop for out going invaders. That  
was the only bit of information available. No I.D. code, not even the class of runner.   
They had gotten away with no traces. Lucky for the rebels no one was killed, or the...  
big… space ship… gang… thingy… would have had to hunt them down and torture them  
slowly for 10 years on the edge of life till they would be begging for a painful end. As it  
was they already had a year of such pain coming. He smiled at the thought of the pests  
capture He then he was interrupted from his thought as he greeted Purple who had finally  
decided to join him.  
  
  
  
Zim smiled in anticipation. They had less then a month till the reached their destination.  
For then he would wait. He knew again there was no turning back. He had no where to go  
but "home" and it was no use running. He would tell them how he really felt. How it felt  
to have your world ripped slowly from you and destroyed. Then he would die or they  
would die. It was the only option left to him. He looked at Dib. His once mortal enemy  
slept peacefully. His pale face calm, no signs of fear, anger, or stress. His glasses  
reflected the moving stars. He looked so calm, it was an ethereal other worldly look. He  
looked almost harmless almost innocent. Zim moved slowly noiselessly to a position next  
to Gaz. She too slept. Her long violet hair spread across her shoulders. her face was also  
pale and seemed to glow in the dim light. Her face lacked the rigid steely guard she  
always kept, even though she had nothing to fear. Her normally tightly squinted eyes were  
lightly closed and a half smile lingered on face. Gir was curled up on her lap snoozing  
softly. his leg and shoulder twitching slightly as he chased his missing cupcake in his   
dreams. Zim remembered how in a moment when he was hallucinating and close to  
death, he had though Gaz was an angel. Now he knew she was only a human he was not  
drugged. For a human she was almost Irken. The highest compliment Zim had even now.  
Zim let the thought that maybe she was really an angel sent to help him, slide into his   
mind. He quickly pushed it away. He could not let such thoughts cloud his mind. He had  
to stay focused. He could not get to close to anyone. He couldn't have friends… besides,  
why would anyone want to be the friend of someone twice condemned and a thousand  
times rejected. A little voice in the back of his head said you already have friends. You  
just have to open your eyes. Zim pushed that thought away too. If he had something to  
live for he had something to lose. He could only get hurt. So he backed away from his  
friends and moved to a far corner. He pulled his knees to his chest and stared at the stars.  
They were closer now to him then they had ever been. He slowly drifted to sleep with the  
thought that soon nothing would matter and he would never be hurt again. 


	11. Dae of the Irkens

Yep another chapter I gonna end this soon.. heh heh... I have a new more sinister project twisting my mind... Muahahahahaha *hint* involves TNBC a movie... bwahahahaha *note* my beta is busy and I wanted to post this. She is really great, and don't blame her for my impatient self.   
  
In the middle of a field of meteorites a small space ship hides watching it's prey. It's  
shape is not like that of a standard Irken vessel, but it is still Irken made.. The body is an oval that thins out to a long point. Its four wings are spread x like. They sweep away from where they are connected to connected to the body. The wings themselves are like diamonds stretched like they are being pulled between two forces. At the front of the ship an oval of glass like material reveals the cockpit. Two laser pinnacles jut out from the front like downward pointing fangs. The ship looks ragged and almost like it will shatter at any moment. patches of metal stretch over the sides, wings, and body. It only looks fragile. It is tougher then it looks at first glance. It and it's pilot has fooled many an enemy into false confidence. It is a ship built for guerrilla and quick dog fighting. Its' agility is greater then the faster of the standard Irken vessel, and it's endurance is the same.   
  
In the cockpit, its pilot waits for the people who have become almost legendarily to her people. The oval glass of the front of the ship reveals the pilot. She is Irken but not the kind the rest of her species would consider Irken. Her eyes are covered by a metallic visor. Its lens it is green tinted, hiding her eyes. Without the aid of it she would be almost completely blind. Half her pale green face is covered by a shiny metallic plate that covers deep painful scarring. Her face is not the only part of her that is part cyborg. Her long gracefully curled antennae, have what appear to be tags, and bits of metal wrapped around them. The are actually enhances of her other sight, and help to give back some of her scarred vision. Her left arm is gone, replaced with a similar robotic appendage. It has wires threading through it, and is many different shades of metallic green. It's covered by an invaders glove, but that doesn't hamper the extremely sensitive sensors and hacking attachments she has incorporated into it. Her other arm has a few patches of replaced robotic mussel but is almost normal. It too is covered by an invader's glove, but the gloves are where any similarity to the Irken uniform ends. She wares a tight black arm-less body suit, with a black belt that holds varies tools and weapons that she requires to survive. The bottom parts of her legs are gone replaced with their technological equivalent metallic spikes jut out of the sides of her legs, showing through her knee high, tight black boots. Her arms have similar spikes but she currently had them retracted. She glanced at varies panels around her, and pressed a few buttons looking for the signs of her  
quarry. The computer told her again what she already knew.  
"Dae there is no sign of the quarry I will notify you when my scanners pick any thing up."  
"Thanks Drake." She said to her ship. The Star Wing Drake was her ships name, and she  
had built it carefully and lovingly over many months as she had recovered. She called it's artificial intelligence drake for short. Not many ships had artificial intelligence. Most preferred a ship that could not talk back. Some times Dae did too, but she preferred some company on her long journeys scouting for the free people. She began to sink back into her remaining memories as she some times did when waiting for battle. She did so with  
the hope that maybe if she thought about it long enough she would remember something more. Something more then waking up blind and ripped apart half dying on a desert world. Not knowing who or what she was. Just knowing that she would die before she got a chance to figure that out. With the thought that maybe that was all there was and all that had ever been. Then the free people had found her. They were not the people then just a bunch of escaped slaves. They had arrived just before she would have lost too much blood to be saved. But save her they did. They had landed on the planet trying to find a new base, a new home. People her kind considered slaves and tortured had saved her. She could still taste the stinging irony in that. She was the first Irken to join the free people, but at the time she did not even know she was Irken. A large deep blue, long hared creature had picked her up in his four strong thick arms. When the others had wanted to leave the Irken to die. Just like other Irkens had killed their families. Burr had just seen a child in pain. So he had saved her. She had needed medicine for many poisons, and they had to amputate her mangled arms and legs. Their medic almost lost her several times. Using spare parts they had found on the wild planet, Burr had built her the beginnings of her current appendages. Later she had improved them greatly with her own natural flair for technology. Burr had stayed by her side. He had lost his own family and cared for her like his own lost doughtier. So he stayed by her through all her fevered nights, and pain dulled days when she had wanted to beg for death. She would have to, but she could not even say one word. It was like along with her past she had forgotten how to speak. Many days later she had regained slowly the ability to make the sounds of her own language. As well as her care takers. She remembered nothing of her old life, she knew only of the care of Burr, and he was like the  
father she knew now she had never had. She only remembered a small part of her name.  
She could not recall more then Dae. She was not even sure of that. So they called he Dae. Without any advanced Irken healing tanks she had large deep scars. She had been in great pain then and had almost died several times. She still had deep pain. Somehow she could now control how much pain reached her. It was almost like she had been trained to withstand and control pain.  
She was not the only Irken found on that planet, she had learned later along with what she was. The planet was too dangerous at that time for anyone to live on for long, and the danger increase a hundred fold when night fell. They had moved on shortly after they had found her, but not before they had seen at least a thousand dead Irkens scattered around the planet, and the remains of a blast off site. All were young, just children by Irken standard. no more then 19 or 20 years old. With the Irken life span being hundreds of years this was surprising. The soldiers of the Irken army were at lest 50 at the youngest. So Burr, who she loved like a father told her that she must not be a normal Irken. That she had been created with the others for some other darker greater purpose. The fact that none of the Irkens as well as herself had back pod seemed to prove this. As well as the fact that her regenerative powers paled in comparison to a normal Irken. To try and make up for her lack she had created her own pack. It was connected to her spine in the back but also a  
tube connected it to the back of her neck and visor.  
It had been a nearly a year since the day Burr had found her. She was now as healthy as she would ever be, and as loyal to The free people as an invader to the Tallest. As she raided planets and spied on her species, she had stolen the parts to create her flying home. She learned of the shame of her kind. The brutal merciless killing. Things she could never pay for but would die trying to.   
None of that mattered now.   
Drake spoke up shattering her daydream memories.   
"Dae" it said in an almost joyful tone "The veet runner has been spotted. It has cloaking on, but a deep scan shows its' the one we have been searching for."  
"Excellent drake prepare to engage with the ship and lets bring this planet destroyer  
home!" she smiled her deadly smile then pushed her joystick down, and pulled out of the field and towards her prey. Yelling a battle call her true people had taught her she lost all threads of memory, caught up in the thrill of expected battle.  
  
Gaz snapped awake and instantly disengaged the auto pilot. Something was coming she could sense it. Almost a second later a proximity alert blared. Something dared to attack her? She cut the alarm off, and entered the fight codes. Her brother had began to stir from his sleep. Zim was already wide awake at the first alarm. He was by Gaz's side in an instant. Wordlessly he scanned the screens, as Gaz began to power up the weapons and increase their speed. Zim spotted the odd ship just as It fired off a blue energy bolt. He yelped as Gaz Rolled the ship away just in time. Dib who was half a wake now gripped the wall as Gir screamed a joyful   
"Weeeeeeeeeheeeheeheeeeee!" Gaz just narrowed her eyes and punched in manual fight mode. Two joy stick shot out towards her. She grasped them and grinned. A helmet lowered onto her head. she could see the other ship as if she was her own ship. Targets pointed out all the weak points of the enemy ship and told her of her own energy and speed. Gaz ignored the screams of her Zim, and Gir. She ignored Dib's cry of  
"we should install seat belts !" and dove down wards spinning in an escape of her foes next move. It was time to battle  
  
Dae had aimed for the engine pods she did not want to destroy her foes just disable them. She knew that they would not surrender. The pilot had avoided her blast in a move she had never seen before. She chased and fired again and again, but her foe just dogged, as if it could tell when she was going to fire before even she knew. So far the other ship had not even fired back. It was as if it was waiting.. but for what? Then it hit her. She smacked her head in self disgust. Her enemy was smarter, much smarted then she thought. They were slowly closing the gap between them and the field. there they would use the meteors as a natural mine field and get behind her. She had been making a rookie mistake of just firing blind shots. She had not even used her advanced speed as the other ship sped away. She would have to use her speed now to her advantage. She yelled to drake   
"Starwing hyper mode now!" She snarled and waited.  
  
Gaz dodged easily as another blast. Soon she would make her move. Then before her eyes the other ship transformed the wings came together and then drew even closer to the body. Then in a blue blur it zoomed past and turned to face her. Gaz realized that her opponent had realized her strategy. It was time to shift gears. She would not let any one beat her not without being half destroyed. She Pushed the speed to the last and most dangerous level. She had 20 minuets till the engines burned out and they were left stranded in space. She sped at the other ship ignoring the laser fire that burned into the shields the sparks flying, as Zim and Dib worked together to hold the ship together. Gir just squealed and hung onto Gaz's helmet.   
  
Dae's eyes widened and her antennae went stiff as the voot cruiser when into over drive. They were not built to with stand such stress and if she did not stop them they would blow an engine. Maybe both. Then she realized more importantly the voot runner was coming right at her. She blasted at it then barely swung up and over it. The voot runner twisted around and blasted at her wings. she dove up avoiding the fire and return fired. It was a miss the runner was charging up. It was a runner's largest must powerful attack. The next blast would take a wing off disabling her. She then realized her only option. The Ion torpedo. she would have to work fast to save them if she used it. Their basic life support would be gone. She did a 180 turn and faced her opponent and fired once. twice. The first missed the cruiser it barrel rolled around it the second clipped the side and exploded the ion energy washing through the ship. She had already hyper sped away. She turned her ship and the blue energy blast had faded. The runner was dead in space.   
  
Zim scowled at the flashing reds displays and banged and Irken wrench like tool on the panel he turned in time to see two ion missiles flying at them. He dived at Gir, ripped him off Gaz's helmet, and opened his back, ripping out a few wires shutting him down. He was just in time as the Ion blast slammed into them. The noise was above even the sound of Gaz's cursing and he knew he had saved Gir by a breath. an Ion blast only destroyed active mechanics. Gir would have been fried. He knew what came next the other ship would now finish them off. It was approaching slowly almost as if it feared them. Ten a tube attached to the side of the runner with a loud clunk pop. It air locked to the side the cut an opening into the cruiser. Air rushed into the already thin atmosphere of the runner.   
'No' Zim realized 'Not just air, but knock out gas!' but it was too late and he was already to dizzy to see strait. 


	12. Drunken Irken

yep another chapter, no reviews.. I'm considering flushing this fic.. but it won't leave me  
alone and it pokes at me doring math class.. no I'm not joking it really pokes me.  
*poke*zim got up *poke* Gaz did this *poke **poke* Yarg!! I'm gonna fail math and  
who do I have to blame? This fic!   
  
home base of Dae.  
  
Dae sat back and put her feet on the controls of her ship.   
"ah this has been the best fight yet. My opponent really was a master" She smiled "but  
I'm better."  
"one more minuet and you would have been the master of disaster Dae." Drake said a hint  
of rebuke in his voice.  
"shut up and drive drake."   
"where to?"  
"You know where. The base."  
"What base?"  
"don't play dumb!"  
"whose playing?"  
As this argument went on they shifted course and began the days trip to the home base.   
It would have been shorter, but with the voot cruiser in tow, and the need for secrecy they  
had to be careful. After all many lives depended on them if they failed  
  
Zim was awake. No one knew yet that he was aware of his surroundings, and that he was  
already planning his escape. He had trained himself over the years in the lab to control his  
vital signs. He knew every motion and every sign that would betray him. his breathing  
was slow his heart rate also. his antennae with out twitching or moving were telling him  
all he needed to know of his surroundings. He had learned early on in the lab, that the  
torture was less when the though he was thought to be unaware. They had soon seen  
though his plan and they began torturing him awake or asleep.   
His new captors obviously did not know him that well yet. He was in a plain white  
room not as brilliant white as the lab, and he could actually see the light source. He lay un   
bound on a plain flat medical table. He actual had a hard pillow under his head. If it  
would not have betrayed him, he could have laughed at the stupidity of his captors. He  
had thought they would have feared him enough to restrain him. After all he was what  
they considered dangerous. A door slid up, and a Irken doctor walked in. The doctor  
moved to check his vitals and see if he was awake. As the doctor bent over him, zim in  
one smooth motion trapped him in a choke hold, and placed his hand over his mouth  
stopping the doctor from crying out.   
  
Bored  
  
Cheleste looked at her self in the mirror and grinned. She looked perfect. No one would  
know who she was, and she could finally get out of the boring old palace with out ten  
trillions guards and slaves hearing her. She wore a scientists garb. it cut the lower part of  
her face from sight, so all that could be seen was her eyes. *A/N Think the nightmare  
begins, death bot thingy.* Now her eyes had been a problem. One glance would have her  
dragged back to her cage. Then like the tallest she would be, she had found the solution.  
Contacts. Easy to remove, and hide. Their purple glint was normal among the scientists.  
Not to mention purple was the color of her science mentor. She thought she was very  
clever in all of this. She walked to her balcony, and cast one look at her slave.   
"If you tell a soul I'll hunt you down and gut you like a fish. K?" verila just nodded  
nervously. Cheleste walked out and stood on the top of the rail. She had set a holograph  
combined with a heat pulse and breathing regulator. It would look like she was reading a  
vid cast. She pushed the disrupter on her wrist and let the cameras adjust in her room. She  
erased the last few minuets of tape through a remote feed on her wrist gauntlet. Then she  
let her self fall off the rail. After a few floors of free falling, she let out her wings. It had  
taken her months but she had installed her own hang glider into her back pack. The  
reason she had given her guard was incase some one pushed her off a cliff. They were not  
to smart, her guards. She was swept up briefly then she glided towards the gardens. She  
did not worry about some one seeing her no one ever looked up, and she was the only one  
with a real window. She flew down and landed in the imperial garden bushes. After  
picking the leaves of her robes, and antenna, she made her way over the walls and out of  
the palace. The security was remarkable loose for such a important place. Then she set off  
into the city to find some esitement.  
She looked up in awe at the sky scrapers that towered above her. They were  
supposed to be replicas of the ones on Irk. She looked at the clean orderly streets and  
stopped at a robotics direction both.   
"Point me to a restaurant, slave machine."  
Compiling... .... ... ... ... Found." Cheleste memorized the coordinates and began the short  
walk to a place called, Starcourtia. (daughter company of foodcortia). Outside was some  
very tuff looking Gaurds. bouncers. she had seen them on her screen. ony pu Irkens! no  
'borgs, er af bres" one guard said. Cheleste winced he sounded as if he chewed he words  
and spat them out. She perked up her delicate antennae. She was wareing the latest in  
Irken style antenna loops. She had one for each curl. On her thin gloved hands she had  
large loopy gold bracelets. With seductive glint in her eye she walked gracefully to the  
head of the line. The guard looked her up and down like one appraising meat, smiled  
showing broken teeth, and let her in.   
Inside was chaos. smoke and lazers were every where, loud blaring music filled every  
inch like lead wait. black light was the only light, and every where Irkens were dancing.  
There eyes glowed neon pinks, greens, and oranges. She almost gasped, then realized they  
were wearing contacts too. She laughed, and walked over to a two person table. A thin  
Waitress in a short sleeveless dress walked over to her a gave her a thin glass of some hot  
yellow liquid. She took a sip through the curled straw. It felt like she had sipped liquid  
fire. Her hand went to her heart, but then the feeling was gone replaced by a lazy happy  
half awareness. She smiled dopely and ordered another, and another, and another.... 


	13. hangover..

Excellent! People reviewed Squeee! Oh you'll find out soon enough who brainwashed  
her... MUAhahahahahahaaaaa... Is it not odd I'm writing two future ficcys at once?  
Shade as in ghost...  
  
bad side of down town  
  
Cheleste did not know up from down, colors she had never seen before flashed in font of her eyes. She  
might have danced. She had many drinks, and who knows what else. she could not tell. Hours later she  
stumbled out of the closing bar. she crawled into the nearest ally and threw up. Then threw up again. As she  
whipped her mouth off she grimaced at the head ache she had. It all seemed familiar, and she wondered why  
she could not concentrate. I used to know how to get through this poison. Didn't I?   
"uuuug" she groaned and got up. Holding her aching head, and stumbled towards her home. Then she  
"herd" something. She scowled and tried to stand straight but stumbled. 'Why can't I remember my training  
chants? I was taught them combat right?' she scowled and leaned against the wall of a nearby building.  
Then she saw it. It was to fast for her to register with her clouded senses, just a shade. She slid down into a  
sitting position. 'must get up, there's an enemy must..' But she couldn't and that made her mad.   
Slowly a centipede like creature crawled towards her its sharp needle feet making a rapid clicking noise.   
"where's my blade" her fading mind said out loud, "my shuriken?" Why didn't they give me a weapon what  
kind of test is this?" She stood up muttering to herself. The centipede creature stopped. Then it's maw of  
mandibles made a sickening smile. She crouched onto the first fighting pose. Then she focused. "Ill defeat  
this with no weapons then go on to the next test. "She wondered why they had placed her in this odd city  
like training zone, but figured they wanted her prepared for anything.  
The creature lunged and she jumped up and over kicking downwards. She landed on its back, and round  
house kicked its head. She heard a snap and the creature which had killed many other drugged Irkens went  
down. Then as if she had been kicked she crumpled. Hours later she regained consciousness, in her own  
room, with no memory of the fight, the moments before, or how she had gotten there. The only thing she  
could  
remember was a yellow drink that she would die before drinking again, and that  
something had happened. Something important. But her head hurt to much to think about it. Verila had  
already prepared a bath, and she undressed and slid into it. Then promptly blacked out again, letting the  
water soothe her aching head.  
  
  
"Sir 1403 is giving us some troubles. She snuck past our systems, and went out. She returned battered and  
looking as if she had been in a fight. She had a high toxication level, resembling the worst poisons of our  
tests. what should we do?" The scientist looked expectantly at the one in charge of the tallest project.   
"Don't worry. She was just board. The tallest are fickle creatures after the brain washing, she will either stop  
all together or be more careful, as it is we can just plant a tracer on her, and it will be fine." He dismissed  
the lower one and to himself thought. "Ah yes I knew Cheleste had spunk, she was the best of the batch my  
finest work. She had a good strong grip from the start, and was smarter then most of the others, with an  
excellent fighting skills. Those odd variations in her DNA were worth the risks. I should never have let that  
underling take the credit, but I did not need the reward. Seeing her as hair is my reward. She will be a fine  
tallest, and every tallest sneaks out at some time. "  
  
Cheleste stood a day later in on bored of a floating platform ship, viewing the newly  
conquered planet. She had not snuck out again, and had no better luck remembering that night. She stood  
near he tallest as the ship slowly moved around the ruins. Today the were showing her what victory was  
like. The planet was cold, so she wore a long dark blue cape, and the tallest wore capes in their own colors.  
They all smiled and waved at the Irken soldiers who looked up and cheered. The planet was finished. The  
species wiped out. all around was smoking wreckage and Irken soldiers just cleaning out any survivors. The  
area the tallest were in had been thoroughly checked, and not a living soul was found. So it was safe for a  
photo opp of the empires great leaders and there cute and beautiful ta chune. The soldiers themselves were  
part of the midia. Cheleste smiled into the flashing camera droids. Then she "heard" something.   
She turned, and did not have the time to blink before the enemy was on them. It was large so large it should  
never have been missed. It was gold and green, it scales shimmering over bulging mussels. It looked like a  
giant lizard with bat wings... Her brain registered ugly, then the creature the size of several houses, ripped  
into the barge with it's powerful front claws. The press droids were gone before they could take another  
picture. They were thrown off the now wrecked barge, and into the air. Cheleste in a moment of pure fear  
reverted to instinct. She turned the fall into a roll and landed badly. bits of Shrapnel torn off the barge  
impaled her legs. She screamed in rage and pain. The thought of how did this monster escape the crews,  
was forgotten as she dodged more wreckage the creature tossed. The creature was spewing flame over all  
the unsuspecting soldiers, and impaling some on its spiked tail. Many dropped their weapons and ran.  
Cheleste stood and yelled an Irken call to arms, she did not know just minuets ago. She grabbed a lazer rifle  
that lay tossed by a fleeing soldier, then jumped and rolled as the beast flamed where she had been moments  
ago. She seemed to grasp memories of battles she would swear she had never had.   
Tallest Purple was no where to be seen. She could see tallest Red standing in a fighting position. He looked  
ready to take the creature on with his bare claws. Aware of soldiers trying to get a shot at the beast that was  
ripping them apart, Cheleste ran over the wreckage. Red turned to her. She tossed him the gun, and they  
joined the few soldiers firing at the creature. She grabbed another discarded gun and fired. The creature  
scales bounced the fire off, and it turned facing her. It lounged at her, and she already weak from blood loss  
knew what she had to do. She pushed red down and using her back pod legs, propelled herself up and onto  
it's ugly snapping muzzle. She pointed the gun point blank at one of it's ugly yellow slitted eyes, and fired. It  
screamed in pain even though it was already dead, and tossed her high into the air. Briefly the images of the  
blood going every where mixed in her mind, with other  
gory pictures she could not quite grasp, but flashed through her brain anyway. Then she fell. To shocked to  
open her wings, she landed hard on her side, amidst the wreckage of  
the buildings.   
meanwhile  
  
Dae sighed sipping a hot energizing drink, feet on the basic table of the break room. She looked at the latest  
news on her vid screen. The empire did not care who red the news proclaiming it's victory, and did not trace  
it. Dae sneered The Pretallest was on the front page. The to her spoiled media tool, was every where. The  
picture of Irken beauty and perfection. The embodiment of Irken values. She felt like spitting a few choice  
words at the child. While the Pretallest was no older then her, she doubted that she had been in battle once,  
and knew that the girl was presented every thing on a platinum plate. as she tossed the vid screen on the  
counter, she heard alarms blaring almost dropping her favorite blue mug. She placed it down and raced off  
to see what had happened. The discarded vid screen flashed "Tallest assassination attempt.....  
  
Dib woke up and groaned at the lightheaded weak feeling that met him. His eyes still closed he sat up and  
rubbed his aching head. Which was not big. his eyes inched open. Then he screamed, for right in front of  
him was a creature that looked to be from a bad b movie. It looked like a cross between a bucket of green  
slime, an octopus, and a billion eyes. The creature tossed the medical scanner it was holding into the air,  
and screamed back at him. Dib jumped up on the tabled he had been laying on, and grabbed a pole like  
alien machine. He held it at the screaming alien preparing to defend himself from the creature that  
resembled a brain sucker from his comic books. The creature ran, or rather oozed, over to the door,  
slammed in a code. The door opened and it oozed, out still screaming and waving its many tentacles. The  
door slammed back down, trapping Dib, in what he could only think of as an alien death pit lab. 


	14. The pain of the many..

YAAAAY I'm making 3 whole fics at once! man juggling fics is tuff... oh and if you  
wanna see a pic of the flute makers go here;  
http://www.angelfire.com/de2/LandofEragooth/InvaderZim/IZpics/flute.jpg   
  
  
*beep Beep BEEp beep Beep BEEp* Cheleste groaned as an infernal beeping noise filled  
her already aching head. She tried to rub her antennae, but found she couldn't. She opened  
her still closed eyes, And looked around. She was in a medical room aboard The Massive.  
The medical facilities were outdated. They had never needed to heal anyone with the  
natural healing talents of their people. It told her she had been severely to be in  
bandages. . That and the almost constant numbing pain. Her arms and feet were in casts,  
and she could feel her head wrapped in bandages. She tried to shift her weight and found  
a streak of sharp pain ran up her side. She would give her right antenna for a goo tank...  
Then she remembered. She could see parts of what she thought was real and what she  
thought she remembered. There were titanic (A/N not the ship the size) holes in one half  
of the memories. She knew so very little and yet she knew she had been lied to. And that  
made her mad. And in some ways the two sided memories made her crazy.What was  
real? What was a nightmare?  
Then in walked Red. She gave him a smile that made his worried look almost disappear.  
Then his smile quickly faded, as he looked at her bandaged condition and shook his head.   
"What's the matter tallest, Cagen got your tong?" Red gave her a half smile then shook  
his head. When He did not respond to her joke she took it as a bad sign. Frowning now,  
her antennae falling She said "Where is purple?"  
  
Gaz sat up and looked around. She was in what she was sure Dib would have classified  
as alien death pit lab. She frowned. Dib and Zim were nowhere in sight. Then her frown  
became deeper as she realized something else. The portable CD player that she had in her  
pocket was gone. She stood up and looked around. Then she walked to the door. She gave  
it one swift punch and it opened. She stepped out into the hallway and off to doom  
whoever had stole her CD player. Oh and after that to get her brother and Zim back.   
  
Dae ran down the medical unit hall fingering a stun pistol on her side. 'Great one insane  
Irken and two of the ugliest whoknowswhat's in the galaxy and I just have to be the one   
to recapture the loud one!' she thought to herself sighing she stopped outside door  
number one. Inside was the supposed male whoknowswhat, who had picked up lamp and  
threatened the medic who had tried to figure out how he worked, so they could fix him.  
They knew he was male had bones, was a carbon based life form, and could scream very  
loud. Giving one more exasperated sigh she opened the door and walked in, gun up into  
the room.   
Dib who had by now recovered some of his composure, had picked up what had to be an  
alien torture device, that had a light attached to the end and stood pressed to the wall next  
to the door. When it slid up he prepared to smash it down on to the alien. He nearly  
dropped it when he saw an Irken walk in. At least he assumed it was and Irken it was  
almost to covered in wires and metal to tell. Nevertheless, an Irken she was. Dib had  
learned enough off Zim to tell the difference at first glance. Then before he could follow  
through on his first brilliant plan the Irken turned. He smiled a nervous smile as his eyes  
were drawn to the shiny gun like object she was holding. The torture device still above  
his head he stuttered.  
"um.. Hi?"  
  
An Irken technician, who for the point of this story will be named Bob, was assigned to  
repair the veet runner. Now Bob was rather short, so he was obviously low in the Irken  
hierarchy. He got the job of Janitor and maintenance on snack machines onboard the  
massive. Every once and awhile Bob would have to put on a jester suit, and dance for the  
tallest. Needless to say he was not happy with the job. One day after a particularly bad  
jester dig, he decided: This sucks! I'm going to join a rebellion. And there you have it.   
Now bob wanted to be a pilot or soldier, but guess what job he got? Yep janitor. He  
sighed to himself as he rifled through the voot cruiser. Supposedly a special opps crew  
had sweeped it for objects they could use.   
  
Bob found stuff to clean up any way, a can of a liquid called poop cola was under the  
pilot chair. He sniffed it, grimaced, and tossed it in his black trash bag. He bent down  
and reached further under the seat. His hand stopped on something metallic, and he pulled  
it out. It was an old fashioned sir unit. Bob had studied Sir units in janitor skool, and he  
had never seen this kind of unit before. Even for a 19 year oldish sir it looked a bit  
broken. It's eye lenses had been replaced, as well as it's arm, and antenna. It's body was  
opened revealing some cut wires. He scratched his head and spoke   
"Now how did you get so beaten up little guy? I guess those S.O.s must have overlooked  
you.. Hrm if I connect this wire here and this wire here.. You should be good to go!" Bob  
closed the sir back up and sure enough it lit up a light blue.   
"Hiiii!" It shouted startling bob into dropping it. "Hello mister other Irken do know where  
master is? Or maybe some tacos? I like tacos.. weeehee! The sir began to run off towards  
the exit of the docking bay. Without waiting for Bob to answer or grab him.   
"oooooh shoot, something tells me I'm going to get the garbage run for this one." he said  
to himself   
  
Now Gir had set off to look for master, Gaz, and The monkey hater... or tacos.. Gaz had  
set off to doom a CD player thief, Zim was.. Well, being Zim, and Dib was about to  
clobber Dae with a lamp. Ah all was well....  
  
Zim had by now tied up the doctor and gagged him. He grabbed a few of the sharper  
looking tools around him. Smiling a grin that was not quite sane he rushed out the door...  
The doctor, who was gagged gave a muffled sighed in relief. He knew that now Zim  
was gone someone would find him, and he had good chance of living. The Irken  
identified as Zim though had a less likely chance. During the scans they had done the  
doctor had discovered Zim had multiple problems. He had severe mutations in his DNA  
structure. It had caused him to grow fairly tall by Irken standards. It had also given him  
the Irken equivalent to cancer. Side effects from injections of chemicals Irken sciences  
had never even seen were apparent. There was damage to all of his major life systems.  
The damage was more then even an Invader immune system could repair. The damage  
was not only physical, but mental. In short, slowly in a process that had taken years  
already, he was dying. It was slowly and almost painlessly killing him. Soon that would  
change for the worse. Sheer will power kept it from showing up on the outside. At the  
rate it was going, even that would soon not be able to stop it. 


	15. Vengers

Woot I updated this. Oh I am evil are not I?  
  
Cheleste looked at Red disbelieving grief poring down her face as it made her way from  
her antennae to the tips of her booted feet. He didn't just say that did he? Purple.. He can't  
be? How on Irk is it possible? Purple can't.. he can't.. He can't ..be gone? The words  
played over and over in her mind as her numbed brain fought to handle it. Every waking  
moment of her life was for her tallest. They were like an unbreakable team. Magical  
mythical sacred. As Pretallest she had been able to touch some of that magic. To feel  
like she could be friends with them. To laugh at Red's latest Zim crack.   
"How many Zim's does it take to screw in a light bulb?"  
"how many?" had been Purple's reply  
"None! He's to short to reach it" She had watched a smile on her face as they laughed.  
She had shared in the magic of the books Purple had so lovingly poured over early in the  
mourning. Laughing at the janitor jester. All an unbreakable dream. Yet it had been so  
fragile, so idealistic. Then it had been cracked and shattered in a billion pieces. She was  
left trying to grab them to glue it back together as it faded away.   
"They can't find him."  
Four words could shatter her unbreakable team. Four words could destroy what she had  
been told to hold dear. Another crack made it way down the slowly breaking wall of her  
memories. physical pain would be preferable to what she felt now. She laughed then. It  
was a small pitiful creature crawling high and fading fast.  
"It's a joke. Yea that's it a joke." Her Ice blue eyes filled with a pain filled madness. Too  
much too hard too fast it was all hitting her. Red cold see the pain in her eyes. He could  
see the madness. He had never felt so powerless in his life. His best friend, his blood  
brother had been ripped from him. He felt like killing something.. But all he could do was  
wait as they told him scans picked nothing up. They couldn't even find his body. Now  
his tachune was being hurt. Snarling he left. He would not allow it. He was not the  
almighty tallest for no reason. He would go down to that planet himself and find  
purple. Irken gods help any one who tried to stop him.  
  
Zim laughed evilly. That maniacal insane laugh we all know and love as he began  
hacking into the computer system. He would find Dib and Gaz, and The cruiser and then  
blast his way out. Then he would continue on to his goal. The tallest. He would make  
them see what they had done. He would show them who was laughing now. They had  
made the foolish mistake of underestimating him. Zim the once mighty Irken invader. He  
was still invader enough to finish his final mission. "There! squadron 3! Two human life  
forms. One heading away. They are only one floor away! Hear me now Irken Empire!  
Your worst fear has arrived! Then he smashed the computer screen with his fist.  
  
In the space station lurked two half's of the same thing. A surface and a true face. They  
were The Free People. They were also the Vengers. One half was open to all fighting for  
peace, fighting for justice. It held the promise of freedom for all races. The other side was  
not as loving. The fought for similar but different goals. And they did not fight for the  
freedom of all, but the enslavement of one race. The Irkens. The Free People was large  
and had the support of many of the slaves who just wanted an end to the Irkens power.  
The other was a small well trained group hell bent on one thing. Eradication of all Irkens.  
one person led them both. She was the last free one of her kind. Her people had been  
eradicated when she was just a kit, slaughtered in a bio scan. Her last memory of blortch  
was being torn from her mother and siblings and tossed helplessly in a cage. They studied  
her and hurt her all in the name of Irken science. She had learned from them. The scars  
she wore now were from more then just their experiments. She had killed the ones  
responsibly for her family's death. How she escaped was not clear to her. Her people were  
intelligent but fiercely afraid of all outsiders. Thus the nick name slaughtering rat people.   
Having only a small language in words and not a lot of skill in building, they were no  
mach for the intruders from the sky. The spoke with motions and whiskers and movement  
No one could lie because emotions could not be hidden. The close nit bonds they formed  
helped them to protect their cites from rival clans. They lacked the intelligence to fight  
back after capture, their natural blood rage instinct taking over. The scientists had  
pumped her full of chemicals that altered everything. She could control the fierce urges to  
kill strangers. She could move with stealth and intelligence. Fangs and claws used as  
hidden weapons. She could speak. Speak the foul primitive language that dominated the  
universe. She had escaped. Now she would show the Irkens the powers that they messed  
with when they played gods in their labs.   
The vengers halls lay down in a scarcely used part of the station. Bio scans protected  
every door from Irken or unwanted intrusion. But they did not stop small unwanted  
robots. Gir hummed happily the theme song to the Scary monkey show. He really had no  
idea where he was going, but the nice leprechaun had told him to follow the yellow brick  
road. Besides he smelled cupcakes! Master and mistress would like cupcakes. So he  
walked past the doors marked "enter and Die"  
The dark lady of the vengers sat at her desk typing and reviewing plans and plots. Then  
she herd a noise. It sounded.. like an intruder! Instantly her hackles rose and her whiskers  
pulled back in a snarl. Her eyes wide. Then she gained control. Her claws extended  
slowly and she smoothed the simple robe she wore. She walked on two feet as she had  
been trained. She was taller then most Irkens and took a bit of pride in that fact.   
"HI PRETTY LADY!" She winced at the high pitch noise that assaulted her sensitive  
ears. She looked down at the foot of her door. It was a s.i.r.? It did not look like a normal  
sir and it's voice attested to the fact it wasn't. She called up a fact from one of her recent  
plots. The rogue invader had a sir. It most have been over looked in their scan. She would  
drill over her squad again when she was finished with it.   
  
"Drop the lamp like a good.. what ever you are." Dae said in her calmest voice not  
wanting to scare the ugly creature.  
"One thing I'm a human. Another thing... this is a lamp?" Dib slowly put the.. lamp down  
and looked at the Irken female. It felt very odd to be the alien for a change.   
"yes hu-man that's a lamp." She talked very slowly not sure how intelligent this hu-man  
was. Dib felt the condescending tone. It was the same as the ones people used when they  
thought he was talking crazy.  
"I'm not stupid you know" his eyes squinting. "or crazy" he added just incase. Dae didn't  
know what to make of this strange creature. It didn't seem to be as stupid as she thought.  
Still suspicious she didn't lower her weapon. At any second it could sprout rendering  
claws and fangs then kill her. She had seen a few creatures that looked harmless but had  
done such things.  
"OK then why did you attack our doctor with a lamp"  
"that was a doctor?" Dae began to once again question the humans intelligence.  
"yes"  
Oh..." Dib suddenly felt very stupid. He had let his over active imagination run away with  
him again. Not like that imagination hadn't saved him more then once. "I think there has  
been a mistake." Still Dib couldn't trust these people. They had captured him and  
dragged him here against his will. "Wait! You captured me and you are asking me why I  
attacked your doctor?" Dib said anger rising in his voce  
"We had to capture you! We needed your help!" Dae answered sensing his hostility.  
"Well, you could have asked!" Dib said ignoring the ray gun in his anger.  
"Would you have listened?" Dib thought about that for a second. With Zim and Gaz as  
his partners, he could honestly say no they would not have.  
"No. but still you could have tried." Dae gave him a look that even with hidden eyes said,  
Do you think I'm stupid? She lifted her wrist to her mouth and spoke a few words into  
her comlinlk.   
"There I have cleared up the matter of your safety and now we can get down to business."  
"What are you talking about?"   
"I have to bring you to the council room where you and your companions will be  
assigned a mission."  
"I don't think you will be able to get us all there as easily as you think. At least not  
without my help."  
"Why?" Dae said once again becoming wary.  
"One simple reason.   
Zim."  
  
((A/N Speak of the devil.)) Zim smiled as he raced down the narrow corridor towards his  
allies. He pulled out something that humans called a cd player and slipped it onto his  
head. He knew it was Gaz's and had placed it in his pocket for protection when they were  
attacked. No seat belts and no where to place valuables. Mot really the best place for  
delicate circuitry. The music that played was Linkon park's in the end. If humans did one  
thing right in their live it was music. Irkens did not really have the ability to produce such  
sounds or the thing's that made them. They had their war chants, but music mostly came  
from other species. Rare was the Irken who could make music. It was ironic how well the  
words matched his life. He didn't worry about the distraction he could still "see" anything  
coming.  
  
Gaz paused. She could hear her music. It was not close but she could feel the fool who  
had turned it on listening to it. A twisted snarl made it's way across her face as she  
thought of vengeance. Hefting a tube she had ripped off the wall, she approached the foul  
creature who had invoked her vengeance.  
  
Pain. Such a thing he hadn't felt in.. well quite frankly he couldn't remember the last time  
he felt pain. It was unusual. His dark violet eyes were closed as he mentally reviewed  
how he felt. After all it wasn't every day he felt pain. No broken arm's legs antennae just  
minor scratches and burns. Slowly he half opened his eyes. Darkness met them. Then they  
focused and he could see the feint outline of what could only be a cell. He sat up from the  
crumpled position on the floor where he had been thrown. He was shocked and confused  
at first. Shocked because he most definitely wasn't on the massive. Confused because,  
well he was a tallest! He felt the dark muddy dirt of his cell floor on his bare claws. The  
three cold unforgiving cement cell walls gave him a real wake up call. He lifted his bare  
fingers in front of his face. His gauntlets and backpack had been removed. His hover belt  
as well. Who ever had captured him knew Irken technology. He stood up and was hit by a  
wave of dizziness, and a sharp head pain. He fell onto the sparse hard mattress that lay on  
the floor. He thought hard through his head ache. The last thing he could remember was  
flying through the air, then waking up here. He snarled. Everyone always thought of him  
as the Scholar tallest, but he wasn't weak. He may prefer smoke machines and did like  
to read allot, but he would fight. He was not weak.   
  
Cheleste could feel her body slowly but steadily repairing. Not fast enough. She had  
waited for hours alone slowly healing and brooding. Her bones re-knit, and her skin  
healed, as the nano bots and biological enhancements worked to repair the massive  
damage she had taken. She had come up with a plan now. Red would have the duties of  
running the empire to attend to. He couldn't try and find Purple. He was responsible. It  
was up to her to get back her tallest, her mentor. She would just have to wait for half a  
day to pass. After all Irkens could re-grow eyeskin, and pop eyes back in to place. Killing  
one was really hard. Something in her halved memories sparked.   
go tanks poison. The knowledge that she didn't always have her retentive powers. She  
was hit with a back lash of inermis pain. She winced and cried aloud. A computer droid  
that had been hovering over her prone form asked her what was wrong. She ignored it. It  
should have asked her what wasn't wrong. She didn't know the answer to that one. But  
she did know one thing. She would change what was. 


End file.
